I have been mulling this idea over in my head for a while now, and I decided that it would be better to just try to get it down on paper. So here goes nothing.
Sometimes, it's legitimately overwhelming to think about the poor in India, in my city, in my neighborhood, let alone the whole world! Daily, it slaps me in the face. I walk outside, and I see beggar women with their babies. Danae and I both struggle with the question: what do we do? Do we simply walk by and pretend not to notice? Do we give money? Do we give food? Do we at least look at them to acknowledge them as a person?
I read the book Kisses from Katie a few months ago. I highly recommend reading it. It's a book about a girl around my age named Katie Davis. She moved to Uganda, permanently lives there, and has adopted 13 little girls. Her ministry is simply a testimony to the Gospel. Her entire ministry is built around the commandment of love your neighbor as you love yourself. She says things like, "If I don't like to be hungry, and my neighbor is hungry, why would I not feed my neighbor?" I can't get that out of my head when I walk by a beggar. I hate being hungry. I hate being hot. I hate being cold. I hate being dirty. So why would I think it's ok for my neighbor to be all of those things? I constantly ask myself, "what would Jesus do?" Jesus obviously did not meet every need He came into contact with, but He sure did care for people. Over and over in the Gospels it says, "and He was moved with compassion." Beautiful. Convicting.
The other day, I passed two beggar women in my neighborhood. Both of them had their babies. I have met these women before in a ministry I help out with. They asked me for food, and I told them no. To be honest, it is really hard for me to give money to beggars with children because I feel like they are exploiting them, and I figured it was enough to just talk with them and play with their babies. But I had a conversation with a very wise friend of mine the other night, and she informed me that the beggars in my neighborhood live in the slum where she does ministry. These people walk over five miles every day to come and beg in my neighborhood. They bring their children with them because where else are they going to leave them? They live in tents made of tarps. They barely scrape by, living on basically only rice. Their children are malnourished. If they get sick, a lot of times they just die. These people have nothing. I almost burst into tears when I heard this. Here I was being so judgmental of these people, thinking that they were faking it, exploiting their children for money and food they didn't need. How wrong I was.
It's hard in India because there is no quick fix to poverty. We can't just tell these people to go get jobs. No one will hire them because of the caste system. They are literally born beggars and are expected to die beggars. That is their job: to beg. But here is the thing: they are people. People loved by God. God knows the number of hairs on their heads, and He loves them. How many times in Scripture does God talk about remembering the poor and taking care of the poor? It's clearly really important to Him. So that leaves me with a big question: what is my role of taking care of them? It's completely contrary to the heart of the Lord to ignore them. That's not an option as a follower of Christ.
So I ask you to examine your own hearts with me. James 2 talks so much about not having partiality in the body of Christ and that faith without works is dead. I know that India is way poorer than a lot of countries in the world. But regardless of where you are, there are people with needs. I am not gonna pretend to have the answers to what we should do about poverty. But I do know that all believers in Jesus should have some role in taking care of the poor. So I ask you to pray about it. And when you do pray, please pray for India. Pray that the Gospel would take root here in the hearts of the people and that the caste system would cease to exist. Praise the Lord that one day, we will be apart of a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, and oh man do I long for that day!
Sometimes, it's legitimately overwhelming to think about the poor in India, in my city, in my neighborhood, let alone the whole world! Daily, it slaps me in the face. I walk outside, and I see beggar women with their babies. Danae and I both struggle with the question: what do we do? Do we simply walk by and pretend not to notice? Do we give money? Do we give food? Do we at least look at them to acknowledge them as a person?
I read the book Kisses from Katie a few months ago. I highly recommend reading it. It's a book about a girl around my age named Katie Davis. She moved to Uganda, permanently lives there, and has adopted 13 little girls. Her ministry is simply a testimony to the Gospel. Her entire ministry is built around the commandment of love your neighbor as you love yourself. She says things like, "If I don't like to be hungry, and my neighbor is hungry, why would I not feed my neighbor?" I can't get that out of my head when I walk by a beggar. I hate being hungry. I hate being hot. I hate being cold. I hate being dirty. So why would I think it's ok for my neighbor to be all of those things? I constantly ask myself, "what would Jesus do?" Jesus obviously did not meet every need He came into contact with, but He sure did care for people. Over and over in the Gospels it says, "and He was moved with compassion." Beautiful. Convicting.
The other day, I passed two beggar women in my neighborhood. Both of them had their babies. I have met these women before in a ministry I help out with. They asked me for food, and I told them no. To be honest, it is really hard for me to give money to beggars with children because I feel like they are exploiting them, and I figured it was enough to just talk with them and play with their babies. But I had a conversation with a very wise friend of mine the other night, and she informed me that the beggars in my neighborhood live in the slum where she does ministry. These people walk over five miles every day to come and beg in my neighborhood. They bring their children with them because where else are they going to leave them? They live in tents made of tarps. They barely scrape by, living on basically only rice. Their children are malnourished. If they get sick, a lot of times they just die. These people have nothing. I almost burst into tears when I heard this. Here I was being so judgmental of these people, thinking that they were faking it, exploiting their children for money and food they didn't need. How wrong I was.
It's hard in India because there is no quick fix to poverty. We can't just tell these people to go get jobs. No one will hire them because of the caste system. They are literally born beggars and are expected to die beggars. That is their job: to beg. But here is the thing: they are people. People loved by God. God knows the number of hairs on their heads, and He loves them. How many times in Scripture does God talk about remembering the poor and taking care of the poor? It's clearly really important to Him. So that leaves me with a big question: what is my role of taking care of them? It's completely contrary to the heart of the Lord to ignore them. That's not an option as a follower of Christ.
So I ask you to examine your own hearts with me. James 2 talks so much about not having partiality in the body of Christ and that faith without works is dead. I know that India is way poorer than a lot of countries in the world. But regardless of where you are, there are people with needs. I am not gonna pretend to have the answers to what we should do about poverty. But I do know that all believers in Jesus should have some role in taking care of the poor. So I ask you to pray about it. And when you do pray, please pray for India. Pray that the Gospel would take root here in the hearts of the people and that the caste system would cease to exist. Praise the Lord that one day, we will be apart of a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, and oh man do I long for that day!
And we stand for those who cannot stand for themselves And we love the loveless And we go where Your light’s not shining We are the body of Christ-Mandi Mapes
