The world around us is broken. We can look around and see marriages, churches, and communities that are filled with brokenness. There are people living in third-world countries who lack access to basic necessities, including toys, toilets, and education. We can see poverty around us in the US with homelessness, children being separated from their parents, and divorce. How can we respond to poverty to bring about meaningful change?

       Poverty is a complex problem, and every situation is unique. Every situation requires prayer and guidance from God to know how to respond to it. Sometimes, a need arises from a sudden problem, such as a tornado or accident. At other times, the need is ongoing, and it is hard to pinpoint what caused it to begin with. Chronic poverty is a form of poverty that persists over time. It is a lifestyle. How do we help without bringing dependency or just inflating our pride? 

       Sometimes, the way we respond to poverty can cause harm to both ourselves and the people we are trying to help. The way we help sometimes causes us to feel more self-righteous and makes the materially poor feel even more inferior. We soon have the attitude that we aren’t going to give him money because he will just spend it on drugs anyway, and we stop caring about the person. We can see God’s heart for the poor throughout the Scriptures, and God wants us to be involved in helping the poor.

       How do we define poverty? How we define poverty is important because it will determine how we respond to it. If we define poverty as a lack of material things, we will respond by providing material items. If we define it as lacking education, we will help provide education. If we define it as a result of sin, we will be evangelistic and present Jesus as the Savior from sin. As Americans, we typically define poverty as a lack of material possessions. However, if we look at it a little deeper, I believe it can help change our attitudes and responses to be more Christlike.

       Bryant Myers, in "Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development," explains that God established four foundational relationships for each person: a relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation. Our entire life is built on these four relationships. Poverty can be defined as brokenness in any or all of these four relationships. When brokenness exists in these relationships, it often leads to material poverty. However, some people experience brokenness in these relationships despite having many material things. Even though they are well-off materially, they do not experience peace and face a type of poverty in their lives. We will briefly examine these four relationships and how brokenness within them can lead to material poverty.

       Relationship with God. This is the foundation of all relationships. Brokenness in this relationship inevitably affects the other three relationships we will examine. All of us have started with a broken relationship with God. We all have room to grow in our relationship with God. Having brokenness in this relationship has led people to follow witchcraft and dark spiritual powers. It brings those who follow that into bondage and, in many cases, leads them into material poverty. Having a broken relationship with God leads people to pleasure-seeking and depletes their resources in that way. It can lead to immoral living and substance abuse, which is a drain on financial resources.

       Relationship with others. Our lives are filled with relationships with other people. God created that to be a blessing and for us to help each other in difficult times. However, we often face broken relationships. Marriages end in divorce. People cheat in business to gain financially. Families don’t speak to each other. We favor some people and overlook others. The church, which is God’s plan for community, is often filled with unhealthy relationships. Children ignore their parents and leave them alone to suffer when they get older. 

       Relationship with ourselves. God created us in His image. There are many areas we could examine, but let us focus on two key aspects. Sometimes we think too highly of ourselves. We are proud. We look down on other people and try not to associate with those who we feel are lower than us. We feel frustrated with those whom we tried to help, but things did not go as planned. At other times, people feel like they are worthless. They think they are not skilled in anything and will never be of use. Many people who are in material poverty feel helpless, and they do not feel like they can do anything better. God wants us to be humble, yet recognize that we are created in His image, and He has purposes for us to fulfill.

       Relationship with Creation. God created the earth to sustain our lives. He did not give Adam a bed and house in the garden, but gave him the resources to create what he needed. Many times, there are strong spiritual powers in third-world cultures. Instead of using resources to sustain life, they worship the resources instead. Instead of eating the fish, they take food to the river to feed their ancestors. Instead of harvesting the trees for lumber, they worship them. Failing to understand how to utilize the Earth’s resources to sustain our lives will result in material poverty. 

       The Bible says in Colossians 1:20 that God wants by [Jesus] to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. Jesus came to restore relationships in all these four key areas. Also, in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, it says And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself... that he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 

       What is our response to poverty? If we define poverty as a lack of money, we will look to money as the solution to poverty. However, if we view poverty as a result of broken relationships, then we will look to Jesus as the solution to reconcile these broken relationships. Jesus has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus is the answer to restoring these relationships. When we help materially without reconciling these four relationships, material poverty will continue. However, when the brokenness in these relationships is restored, material needs will also be taken care of sometimes. 

       When we define poverty in this way, we realize that all of us experience poverty in our lives to some extent. We all need Jesus as the reconciler of our relationships. We can all continue to grow in our relationship with Him. We have relationships with others that we can improve and deepen. Just because we are American doesn’t mean we have it figured out. We have as much to learn from the poor as we can give them. There are many things they can teach us. 

       God has a heart for the poor. We can see that many times throughout Scripture. In Isaiah 58:10, it talks about drawing out our souls for the poor or pouring ourselves out for the poor. Proverbs says that when we help the poor, we are honoring God. We can hear and see what Jesus said and did throughout the Gospels to care for the poor. Now is the time to give more generously than ever, and with the wisdom and help of God, to also seek ways to creatively help restore relationships as we work with the poverty around us.

Harrisburg, PA