Poverty and Being Generous

Now I’m not one to weigh in on too many subjects related to politics, but today I can’t resist.

Did you hear? Newt Gingrich is back in the news. This week he, along with several thousand of his Republican friends gathered inside the Washington Beltway to engage in a bit of Obama-bashing. Among other things, they took their stabs and jabs at the Obama Administration’s economic recovery policies. Not surprisingly, Newt and his friends say that the stimulus, omnibus, bailout initiatives aren’t working.

Not to be outdone, Obama’s officials’ quickly countered saying the present economy is reversing the downward trends and policies of the previous administration. Don’t you just love the political banter between Democrats and Republicans? Add to this the frequent charges of many that Obama is drifting toward economic socialism and you’ve got a ripe recipe for national division right along party lines. Some things never change!

Today I read Deuteronomy 15 and was struck by two statements the writer makes. On the one hand the people are told, “there should be no poor among you” (Deut. 15:4), and moments later the writer says, “there will always be poor people in the land” (Deut 15:11).  If you are like me you may be saying to yourself, “So which is it?” The statements appear contradictory. Maybe in the first statement the writer is describing the ideal, while in the second he is simply commenting on the current reality. Whatever the case, a question arises: Is there any economic system available today that guarantees the eradication of poverty?  Economic systems don’t run themselves; they require human beings to operate them. Countless hours of manpower are required to keep any economic machinery grinding along. And like anything else operated by human beings, it’s only a matter of time before the flaws, cracks and imperfections of the system and the people who operate them become glaringly apparent.

This is not to suggest for one moment that all economic systems or theories are equal. Nor is it to suggest that economists, politicians and legislators shouldn’t keep working hard to devise national and global economic strategies and solutions. What it is to suggest is that given my human sinfulness and my innate inclination toward greed and selfishness, any notion of economic utopia seems out of the question.

Maybe this is why the Scriptures repeatedly urge me and encourage me to adopt a lifestyle of spontaneous, openhanded generosity. Maybe, such a lifestyle choice curbs and restrains my own intrinsic selfishness and enables me to do my small part to help the poor.

What do you think? 

S t r e t c h e d