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The Bible instructs us clearly in many places to serve the poor. But giving not only benefits the poor, God's Word also says that generosity benefits the giver. Here we look at five possibilities that could arise out of following our basic obligation to help those in financial need.
1. YOU RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE.
Then the Lord said to him, "You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over."
Luke 11:39-41 (NLT)
The Pharisees were greedy people. They looked exemplary when they did their ‘religious’ duties to precision, but Jesus told them that, inside, they were dirty. Jesus recognised that the Pharisees had a greed problem behind their ‘religiosity’. When Jesus told them to ‘give to the poor’ he was presenting them with a scouring pad to clean a stubborn stain, so that he could present them fully clean and acceptable to God.
The rich young ruler in Luke’s gospel had a similar problem with greed. Jesus too saw the man’s heart and told him that if he would sell all he had and give the money to the poor, he could follow Jesus and have eternal life.
2. YOU FIND THE KEY TO PERSONAL HAPPINESS.
Happy (blessed and fortunate) is he who is kind and merciful to the poor.
Proverbs 14:21b (AMP)
So often we can get bogged down with stresses, frustrations and pressures that we can become unhappy and discontent with our lives. But when we get involved in the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves we start to see things from a different perspective. It is here that God can bring true happiness and satisfaction into our lives.
When famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger was asked: "What would you say to somebody who was on the edge of a nervous breakdown?" He replied, "Leave your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone else in need, and do something to help that person. Without exception I have found that every person who was sincerely happy, radiantly alive, was living for purposes beyond themselves.”
3. YOUR PRAYERS GET ANSWERED.
And Cornelius, gazing intently at him, became frightened and said, "What is it, Lord?" And the angel said to him, "Your prayers and your [generous] gifts to the poor have come up [as a sacrifice] to God and have been remembered by Him."
Acts 10:4 (AMP)
A Roman believer named Cornelius was hugely instrumental in God’s plan to spread salvation to the Gentiles. We can assume that Cornelius would have been praying for his Gentile friends, but not only that, he just as importantly showed love in action by giving to the poor. The result? His prayers and actions were offered up as a 'sacrifice' to God. Here we see a direct relation between helping the poor and prayers being answered.
We can also see the opposite principle in Proverbs 21:13 where the scripture reads, “Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.”
4. GOD WILL COVER YOUR BACK.
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then... the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Isaiah 58:6-8 (NIV)
God’s got your back! What a great promise for those who act to serve the poor, unfortunate and underprivileged.
Exodus chapter 14 records the story of God’s people escaping slavery from their Egyptian oppressors. When the Egyptians pursued and got within sight of them, the Israelites thought they were doomed. But God moved the Angel of the Lord from a ‘leading’ position at the front of the people to a ‘protecting’ position at the rear. The cloud also moved with the angel so that the enemies of God could never get through to the Israelites. If you’ve ever felt your enemy the devil pressing in from behind, know that your God can be your rear guard.
5. YOU RECEIVE HEALTH.
Give your food to the hungry and care for the homeless. Then your light will shine in the dark; your darkest hour will be like the noonday sun. The LORD will always guide you and provide good things to eat when you are in the desert. He will make you healthy.
Isaiah 58:10-11 (CEV)
In the continuation of the verses we have just read in Isaiah, we see another promise that God gave his people: if they met the needs of the poor, then he would give them health.
Prayer, faith and confession are all vital elements for the Christian who is looking for a breakthrough with their health, but ‘serving the hungry and caring for the homeless’ may possibly be another key.
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