CHRISTIANS: Adversaries of the poor, or advocates for the poor?

I’ve worked with the truly poor most of my adult life. Still, I have surprised myself by how much I’ve let a person’s social media post bother me.

I’m not surprised that for MANY Christians, it’s a common practice to log into social media almost daily and rail against the poor. As a nation, we Americans have decided that we need to provide a “safety net” for the poor. Many churches have largely outsourced caring for the poor to these government agencies, and individually we’re quick to point the poor and needy to these government institutions rather than burden our own households with meeting such needs.

Yet, day after day Christians turn to social media to gripe about the unemployed, the poor, people on welfare, and those who turn to the “safety net” for SURVIVAL because they have no where else to turn.

For too many Christians, most of what we have to say or post about the poor is negative and sounds like we are adversaries to their getting help, rather than being the chief advocates of the poor, the needy, the lost and the least among us.

It only takes a cursory reading of scripture to see that Jesus Christ was the greatest Advocate for the poor who ever walked this earth, and WE are to follow in His steps! To support such an argument, I could have spent a lot of time developing a list of scriptures that speak to the need for our advocating FOR the poor; instead, I did the contemporary thing to do and did a quick internet search. It immediately provided multiple sites that help point out to Christians what the Bible has to say about serving the poor. Click here to see just one list from both the Old and New Testaments speaking to our need to care for the poor.

But just yesterday, yet again a person thinking of themselves as a significant church leader took to social media to take a public swipe at the poor. There are so many public statements of this nature by Christians that by observance of our public behavior, it appears many are ADVERSARIES to the poor rather than ADVOCATES for them.

What is your public behavior when it comes to the poor? How do you advocate FOR them — or do you? Are you more concerned about a lazy person being on welfare, or suffering people not getting the help they desperately need?

Are you more concerned about someone on food stamps spending money on marijuana, or the fact that hunger is a persistent problem even in the cozy suburbs of America?

I understand there is some level of abuse of the “safety net,” but the much bigger issue, the more pressing need, is that of the poor and the least. Maybe instead of focusing on the lesser issue, real focus should go to advocating for the poor rather than acting like their adversaries.

No one would have ever said Jesus was an adversary to the poor. Would someone observe your public behavior and think your were advocate for them?

Scotty