AP

Proverbs 22:2, 9  Rich and poor have this in common:  The LORD is the Maker of them all. … … The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

These two verses together are a good reminder to us that we are always only ‘stewards’ of all the things that God has entrusted to our care.  He is our Creator, and “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters”  (Psalm 24:1).

The implications of this are clear:  Firstly, we don’t own anything as if we have the right to use things in our care in whatever way we might want to, without being accountable to anyone else.

Secondly, we must never look on our ‘possessions’ in terms of ‘rightful’ ownership, but rather as gifts of grace coming from God’s generous heart.

Thirdly, people who are not in ‘possession’ of the abundance of good things entrusted to us (the ‘poor’) are also people ‘made in the image and likeness of God’, and therefore are just as entitled to the things God has entrusted to us as we are.

God has entrusted an abundance of things to us with the express purpose that we will share them with those in need.  God blessed Abraham and his descendants so that they would be a blessing to others (Genesis 12:1-3).

This is what Jesus’ Parable of the Sheep and the Goats is all about: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”  (Matthew 25:34-40).

Sadly, to adopt an attitude in line with all this is to be extremely counter-cultural today.  But it therefore presents us with a wonderful opportunity to be most effective as ‘salt’ and ‘light’ to our generation – let’s not miss it!  (The statistical estimate of what would be the result of dividing the total amount of food available in the world by the total number of people living, is astounding – let’s not be embarrassed by it on the Day of Judgement!)

– Bruce Christian