Wealth and Poverty

Poverty is huge in our society today. Even though it's everywhere, we could live a life that completely ignores it. There's also a lot of wealth, several big industries and company's and people who are just living the American dream. Our society has an issue with materialism; it's all about the next best thing, the next toy, the next gadget, the newest car. But then there's poverty and people who are deprived of necessities. There are people who live on less than two dollars a day and will be trapped in their lifestyle of poverty forever. If God has blessed us with abundance what do we do with it? Or what is the biblical response to poverty?

Kerby Anderson is the president of Probe Ministries International. He is a graduate of Oregon State, Yale, and Georgetown. He has written several books of his own as well as been an editor. He is a nationally known columnist and the host of Probe. His article Wealth and Poverty deals with the biblical perspective and why wealth and poverty are important to Christians. As Christians we have a responsibility to the poor, we are also told to live responsibly, with our money and our lives.

Everyday people of the church who have been given abundance are also living in abundance. This does not glorify the Lord and is selfishness. I wouldn't say it's a hundred percent sin to be well off nor to have a nice home, but what are you giving back to God? If God has blessed you with money and material things, He calls us to give back and to take care of His children who are not in the same position.

Anderson talks about our society that is bombarding believers with views and images of wealth. Wealth is satisfying at the time, it seems like when you are staring at the ad that you absolutely need it. But there are so many things we own that we never pay attention to. As a college student and having to pack up a part of my life and live in a home that is so temporary; I've really learned that there is so much I have that I will never need and can live without. Our western society is so troubled with materialism and being consumed by it is sin. Further, you can't place your trust in wealth, something that is so temporary. We see in Job that wealth can just be taken away. I've seen first hand wealth taken away. We cannot place our trust in money, but in a God who provides for our needs. When we start trusting our money we begin trusting God less. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief's." If we are blessed with wealth, loving it should be far from us and our priorities of how we invest are crucial.

Poverty is such a struggle, especially the reason for poverty. Some are born into poverty, some have faced circumstances and oppression that are unfair, some are lazy, some face the difficulty of location