The wisdom of Proverbs tends to be incredibly simple in a radically disarming manner. I realize I need to spend more time camped among these words that combine wisdom with clear calls to precise action.
Take this short gem unearthed at Proverbs 19:17:
"Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full."
For starters, this advice assumes that those of us with material resources actually encounter those who have very limited resources of this kind.
Sadly, many of us don't cross paths with the poor very often at all. This is the result of how it is that we have arranged our communities and our lives. Make no mistake about it, our communities are the result of intentional design and the forces of economics. All of us are poorer as a result.
Still, we all do encounter those who are economically impoverished.
What does it mean to be kind to someone who is poor?
What does unkindness look and feel like?
Good questions for us to ask ourselves these days, or so it seems to me.
Kindness does not ignore or avoid others.
Kindness takes the time necessary to respond with humanity, grace and humility.
Kindness views others with openness, fairness and optimism.
Kindness does not write people off. Kindness is not into judgment, rejection or dismissal.
Kindness communicates.
Kindness finds the eyes of another person.
Kindness knows how to shake hands.
Kindness takes time for others.
Kindness does not wring its hands, nor does it investigate or over-evaluate a simple request like, "Hey, mister, do you have a little change so I can get a sandwich?"
Kindness will lead us to approach others even before they approach us.
There has been a big "flap" here in Dallas over the past year or so about panhandlers begging on our city streets, especially downtown and at busy intersections. We now have ordinances against such activity.
Predictably, the practice continues at about the same pace as before the new laws were enacted.
I've found a great way to deal with street beggars. Speak to them before they can speak to you! A smile and a warm handshake really makes for a different kind of conversation. Most likely, it will cost you a buck or two, but I have to tell you, the human interaction is well worth the price.
Being kind--read "human" here--to the poor is exactly like lending to the Lord.
Here is another one of those amazing and thoroughly radical statements describing the one-for-one identification of God with the street corner panhandler.
If I am kind to the poor, it is as if I am making a loan to God. Whoa. . .
In other words, God is found in the poor.
An obvious corrollary lesson here is that most people are looking for God in all the wrong places.
The clincher for me is in the promise: whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and the loan will always be repaid in full.
Nothing is lost when kindness is extended to someone who is poor. As a matter of fact, everything is gained. Everything.
7 comments:
Your post this morning really blessed me. You see I used to give to the panhandlers on the street. Then a group of high school girls and I decided to carry bags we prepared in our cars to give to panhandlers. They would have a t-shirt, water, lotion, peanut butter crackers and stuff like that. I really liked doing that. But since then, I have again allowed myself to become indifferent towards the people I see on the street corners making judgements about their lives. So your comments and study here help my heart to soften once again to these brothers and sisters of mine. I think I'll go get some cash to have on hand and will make up some more care packages to have in the car. Thank you for calling us to who God intends us to be.
great post!
Kindness shown inspires hope and builds faith in those recieving as well as those giving.
I was in Chicago on business and found myself alone one night of the trip. I walked down the Million Dollar Mile and came to the river where a man was playing a five gallon bucket with drumsticks. He asked for cash, which I did not have with me. I told him that I was going to get some pizza and I'd share with him. I did go get that pizza and I came back with it and a Coke for each of us. To this day, it's one of my favorite memories of mind-numbing business travel.
Thanks for a great post.
I definitely know how easy it is to spend a life without knowing the poor. Only now am I beginning to realize that this was also living without knowing God. What I called God was simply a justification of my life, and the lives of those around me.
We live in Babel. The world has been fractured into different classes, countries, cultures. It is hard to see the whole face of God, since we live in such homogenous communities -- surrounded by privilege, or surrounded by poverty. I wonder how differently we would act if we all lived and worked togehter?
To me, the real revelation of Christ is that God dwells within each of us. And the Christ that lives in the hearts of the poor calls out to the Christ that lives in the hearts of the privileged, that they might come together and create the Kingdom of God.
Wonderful post. These ideas have been weighing heavily on my mind lately and your blog has helped me begin to convert them into actual concrete acts of mercy (though as most of us can attest, we ourselves are the true benefactors of these acts, not simply those to whom we give). Anyway, last night was a case in point. As I took my leave of an innercity restaurant to console my crying 3-month old daughter I passed a steet bench. On this bench sat a man to whom I tried to avert my eyes. As usual that didn't matter. He asked for a bit of money, anything I could spare, he said. I took out my wallet and gave him what I thought was the smallest denomination I had - a ten (approximately 10x my typical donation). Upon receiving the bill this man introduced himself as "Clarence" and began to fumble with his hat. After he removed it he took hold of his necklace and, asking my permission, lay it on the feet of my now sleeping daughter. It was a rosary. A plastic rosary held together by yellowed string. I insisted he needn't go to that trouble but he wouldn't hear of it. I reached out and touched his face with my open palm like my dad used to do to me when I was a boy. Not sure why I did that, perhaps part of me wanted to confirm that this wasn't that beggar I had just seen but the actual human being that my soul was now registering. After we shook hands and parted I looked down at that rosary and prayed that I would not forget Clarence or the quiet moment we shared as two people who needed something that night. Clarence knew what he needed and I gave it to him. I was unaware that I too was in need but Clarence knew. And he gave it. And I'm not talking about the rosary. May God bless him.
Tazman, thank you for sharing the story and thank you for acting and for touching Clarence. It always happens like this, always.
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