A Great Exploit

“…but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do great exploits.” Daniel 11:32 (KJV)

I have been thinking a lot lately about big goals, big dreams---achieving God’s purposes for my life. I have been thinking about big challenges and getting big enough courage to face them and spend my life giving my best to beat them. To be specific, over the last couple of years God has been stirring a great dream in me. The issue is BIG, overwhelming, seemingly insurmountable. The church family of which I am a part is right in the middle of Coventry Township, and we are surrounded by a curious mixture of wealth and poverty. Our mission statement here is that we help people find the Father, a Family, and a Fulfilling Future. We do great at the first part, pretty good at the second part, but at the third part—helping people have a fulfilling future—we have a long ways to go. We try, and we do many good things. But there's no place to rest and check it off our list when so many people lack so much of what makes life fulfilling. It's a cop-out when we say that of course a person gets a fulfilling future when he or she accepts Christ as Savior—they get heaven! That is true, but the future God wants for His children begins much earlier than that.

Poverty is not part of God’s plan for his beloved creation. No—I do NOT believe in the prosperity gospel. I do not believe that when a person follows Christ fully, he or she will becomes rich. I do not believe that poverty is a sign of disobedience or disfavor. What I DO believe is that God’s perfect plan for his world has been broken by sin, and that currently we reside in a world that is entrenched in evil and self-centeredness. Poverty, it has been said, is often punishment for a crime you didn’t commit. Because of the brokenness and sin of our world for generations and generations, some nations, communities, and families are reaping harvests they didn’t plant. They may need special assistance over time to ever break out of the negative legacy. Believers have a special responsibility to step in and do whatever it takes to interrupt the cycle and help start people in a new direction. Matthew 25 records the words of Jesus showing that at the final judgment, how we invested in the least and last of these broken will be significant.

Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.” How do “good people “, caught in the cycle of despair and poverty, ever hit that kind of a target, something they would desire to do ? An inheritance is out of the question—barely eeking by with the basic necessities is the daily consuming goal. How does it ever change? Are some just blessed and others just disadvantaged? “As it was, is now and ever shall be?” Is it ok just to do what we can? Give when we find extra, share a hand-out here and there, charity at holidays?

No. NO. NO. That’s not an acceptable response for a Christ-follower. We follow One who was so consumed by OUR poverty that He willingly put aside His unimaginable wealth and power that we might become rich (II Corinthians 8:9) Give-aways and charities are reasonable and good starting places, but that’s all. I can do that in bits and pieces and make some momentary happiness for someone without making a true investment. I NEED to do that. It's the basic call.

But as a Christ-follower, I am challenged to really consider what God is saying to me as an individual and us as a church in the face of a problem so massive, so entrenched, and so complicated that we feel helpless to confront it. To make a difference, to give opportunities for others to have a fulfilling future, means that I must make, we must make significant sacrifice. Sharing whatever I have with those in need is the response of a grateful, thinking heart, and it gives opportunity for a new cycle to begin. We have resources of more than money--we can teach skills, help find jobs, stand against injustice, mentor, help build relationships. I heard a Brazilian pastor say that the greatest thing a person in povertyu needs is friends--friends with resources and contacts, and a willingness to aggressively share.

It's a MASSIVE challenge...poverty has all kinds of evil surrounding it that cause it, fuel it, encourage it. But we can make a difference. When the prophet Daniel prophesied that trouble would come and mammoth enemies would abound, he responded with a great counter-attack: “…but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do great exploits.” Daniel 11:32

Poverty in Coventry Township is a great enemy, a massive and entrenched evil. It would be a great exploit to attack and conquer it. Sounds like just the job for people who do know their God.

I'm up for it...

Pray for me. Pray with me. Let's go!