|
Poverty
Just waking up, are you? Well, good sunshiny morning to you! Blessings on your day!
Ready to sit down at the table? You might want to make sure you’ve got plenty of coffee handy for today. We need to talk about a subject that affects a lot of people, and my approach to this may be a bit touchy for some folks.
I’d be willing to bet you that I’ve grown up with far more teaching on the topic of being “humble” and living the “humble life” than I’ve ever heard on living the blessed life, prospering, and all that.
The body of Christ has been permeated for centuries with a poverty mentality. For some reason, folks think it is more blessed to run around without a home to call your own, drive a clunky old car, buy their clothes from the Salvation Army or Goodwill, etc., etc. Somehow, this has been translated into “righteousness” and “being like Jesus.”
Brother, what a farce! This is a fraud that has been perpetrated on folks for generations. Now before you go to thinking I’m going to start preaching “think and grow rich,” forget it! That’s not what this is about. It is about a mindset, however – one that permeates a lot of what infects and contaminates Christians – and the world in general.
Poverty begins in one’s mind – in their thinking, their attitudes and their behavior. Poverty is not the lack of worldly goods – and I’ll speak to that momentarily. Poverty is not a lack of money. Poverty is a curse. It can be a generational curse, passed on down from generation to generation to generation. We’ll talk about where it begins in a couple of minutes.
As you all know, I grew up in Eskimo villages, the older of two sons of missionary parents. We never had a lot, but we never did without. Dad was frugal, but he wasn’t poor. He never had lots of money, but he was never broke. My brother and I learned how to do a lot of things growing up. Because Dad was a pioneer missionary and a church builder, we grew up helping him build churches.
Well, when you do that, you learn lots of skills. We learned carpentry, cabinet making, hanging sheetrock, taping and texturing, painting, electrical and plumbing skills. We learned how to lay tile and carpet. We learned how to repair engines. If it was mechanical, we could make it work. If it was electrical, we could take it apart and fix it. We learned how to do just about anything you could think of.
We didn’t have lots of money, but we could take other folks’ “junk” they threw away and make it work. Nobody had to give us a fish and feed us for a day. We had the skills to fish and take care of our needs. I’m using the popular metaphor, you understand.
Because Dad taught us many skills, and we learned many others on our own, there was never a task set before us or a need that cropped up that we couldn’t take care of. We were taught something far more important, however, than the physical job skills. We were given an attitude that shaped our lives: a “can do” attitude. Nothing was impossible in the natural because we had the skills to accomplish anything we wanted to do. By the same token, nothing was impossible in the spiritual realm because we had the Lord.
There were lots of times when we had only a few dollars, but we were never poor. We never saw ourselves that way. If we needed something, we made it – often from scratch.
Were we exceptional people – unusually gifted or something like that? Sure, but not the way you think. It wasn’t our natural gifts and abilities that made us exceptional. It was a mindset of prosperity. It was thinking and agreeing with the Lord. We never thought “poor.”
I remember getting these “missionary barrels” that would come in once a year on the ship. A “missionary barrel” is usually a cardboard barrel or 55-gallon drum with a removable lid. Churches and individuals would send us these things with used clothing – and a lot of junk folks just wanted to throw away, but thought they would get credit from the Lord for their “giving.” In later years, when I took over the mission station at Wainwright on a temporary basis, and then again at Saint Paul Island, we were still receiving “missionary barrels” with – get this! – used tea bags. It was a riot!
We felt sorry for folks whose mentality worked like that. They were the ones that were poor. It was a blessing, though. Mom taught us another skill: sewing. Yeah, I know – boys sewing their own clothes? We can laugh about it, but I learned to tailor my own clothing – and I did for many, many years.
When Della and I first got married, and we were starting from scratch, we often looked for bargains – not at the used clothing stores, but at the expensive stores where they sold name brand clothing. You could buy, for example, a $300 or $400 dress or skirt for $50 - $75, and even less. At those prices, you often got stuck with whatever sizes they had in stock, and rarely got to purchase something that actually fit properly.
No problem. I looked for something one or two or three sizes too big and then resized it on the sewing machine. Della dressed like a queen in those early days for a fraction of what we’d have had to pay normally. I purchased cashmere sport jackets for pennies on the dollar and retailored them to fit. Hey, I looked like a million dollars!
No one ever knew we didn’t have money. And we never thought of ourselves as being poor.
Beginning to get the picture aren’t you?
It wasn’t the money, or lack of it. It was the attitude, the mindset, the thought process that pervaded our thinking. We were blessed! We enjoyed the blessings of God.
Poverty – true poverty – begins in the way you approach life. It begins in whether you hang on to everything you have for dear life, or whether you freely give what you have. Poverty – or prosperity – begins in how and whether we apply a principle that Jesus taught, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
So many folks are stuck with the mindset that in order to get and to have “things,” you’ve got to hang on to everything you get. The attitude is, “Get all you can, and can all you get.”
Wrong! That’s a sure sign of someone in poverty.
Want to stay broke all your life? Want to always be in need? Want to struggle all the time to pay your bills. Want to live in a run-down house that doesn’t meet the needs of your family? Want to drive a car that always breaks down and winds up costing you more in maintenance than car payments? Want to have lousy credit and be unable to be trusted by creditors because you never keep your word on making payments?
We could go on and on with these questions. They all reflect the status of folks who live in poverty. And I know a lot of people who live exactly like what I’ve just described. Trouble is, they live in $400,000 homes, drive Mercedes or BMW’s, wear designer clothing – and they are in debt up to their eyeballs. They don’t prosper! They live in poverty!!
Their lifestyles are those of a life of fantasy! They aren’t real. They are living like this because they need to “feel good.” They need to “keep up with the Jones.” They can’t afford to look to their neighbors, relatives or friends like they have need – that would be awful !!
Here’s the worst part of it.
Many are professing Christians.
So where does this mindset begin? In keeping. In receiving. In hanging onto. In believing that you can’t accomplish something – anything!
Poverty isn’t the absence of money, property, possessions, etc. Poverty is the presence of fear, of unbelief, of doubt. The presence of fear, unbelief or doubt establishes your whole mode of thinking, your attitude towards life, your attitude towards money, your attitude towards possessions.
Want to be broke all the time? Be in fear of what might happen tomorrow. Doubt your abilities. Doubt God’s promises to you. Think broke!
Want to live your life in continual need of this or that? Don’t believe that God has given you ability to do anything you need to do. Let yourself get run over by circumstances. Be defeated by other people’s attitudes and comments toward you. Think failure!
Now I’m really going to mess with you and say something that sounds almost contradictory to what I just said. But this is still true.
Want to fail at everything you do? Want to go broke and/or bankrupt every so often? Think more of yourself and your abilities than you do of God’s desire to provide for every need. Become one of those folks who think “God helps those who help themselves.” Brother! Is that ever a bunch of hooey!! That’s just an excuse for humanism replacing our trust and dependence in the Lord.
I’ve got some advice for folks who believe that nonsense. “God help them that get caught helping themselves!”
OK. Now, let’s get down to some real principles behind the poverty thinkset. There are spiritual principles which, when violated, result in poverty.
Let me say in advance that poverty is a curse. It is not a blessing. It is not the purpose, the will or desire of the Lord for God’s people to live in poverty. Before I get too far along with this, and some of you jump to the conclusion that I think Christians should live in the lap of luxury, forget it! This is not what that is about.
That said, take a look with me at two very important spiritual principles.
This first principle deals with honoring the Lord, and keeping His commandments (And I’m not necessarily referring to the Ten Commandments.)
We’ll get into the blessing side of this tomorrow, but let me show you the poverty side first. Take a look at Deuteronomy 28:15b-45 (KJV):
“..if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee.”
If that sounds extreme – and it is – these are the array of curses that come upon folks who think they can ignore the Lord. Of course this comes from the Law of Moses. Of course this comes from an era in which an entire nation was supposed to follow God. And, of course, we live in an era of grace in which the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ makes provision for folks, and allows for a time of repentance.
While it is rare to see all of these things manifested on any person or any family, it is nevertheless a description of what often happens to folks who try to run their lives in defiance of God’s commands to them. It’s a spiritual principle.
There’s one more principle I will share with you.
As the age of the prophets closed out and the so-called 400 silent years commenced, Malachi addressed a problem occurring amongst a poverty-stricken people in captivity. He addressed the reasons for their poverty.
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.” (see Malachi 3:8-11 KJV)
I know all the arguments against tithing. I’ve preached in opposition to the concept for many years. And I’ve been wrong in so doing. The most common argument raised among Christians today is that tithing is not a New Testament command. Sorry. It is. Like so many people, I missed it. There isn’t time today to go there, but let me address it like this: Leviticus 27:30 makes the following statement, “All the tithe……is holy unto the Lord.” Since there were three different tithes amounting to as much as 30% of one’s “increase,” it took in everything we have usually counted as “offerings.”
My objective today is not to share on tithing, but to deal with the principle. Everything we have belongs to the Lord. Under the Law of Moses, not less than 10% of it had to be returned to the Lord, “that there may be meat in mine house.” The remaining tithes – offerings – went to take care of the widows, the fatherless, “the stranger in the land,” etc.
When a person takes that which is holy unto the Lord and uses it for himself, he brings a curse upon himself and his household. That curse is poverty. The curse is perpetual need. The curse is that your work, your personal efforts, your job will never be enough to catch up with the needs that exist. Everything you have will wear out, break down, deteriorate before its time, or get stolen from you. You’ll lose your job, or get passed over for a promotion, be one of those who get caught in massive corporate “restructurings” – you get the picture.
I don’t want to belabor the issue, but it is important to see and understand some of the principal causes behind poverty. Poverty is not the will of God. Poverty is a curse that we either bring upon ourselves, or suffer because past generations in our family have opened the spiritual doors for the curse.
Tomorrow, we will look at the opposite side of this coin: prosperity. Buckle your seatbelts. You’re in for a ride!
You’ve got a lot to consider for this day. Think about it. Meditate on it. Let’s see….what was that I was saying about having plenty of coffee handy today?
Blessings on you.
--Regner
Regner A. Capener
EKKLESIA HOUSE
RR-15, Box 6180
Mission, TX 78574-9589
(956) 583-5355
Chat
with Regner
This article may be reprinted, reposted, copied and re-used – in whole or in part – with proper attribution.
|
