2 Corinthians 8

I've been reading through a chapter a day of the Corinthians and read 2 Corinthians 8 today... Paul tells the Corinthians about the Macedonian church who gives financially despite their extreme poverty and are able to give even beyond their ability...! "They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people." It was not about oh, there's this need we have to fill because we're obligated, but they wanted the privilege of partnering with God's ministry in this way. It also reminds me of the story that Francis Chan's wife shared about how when they went to Asia to visit the poor and they would take the amount of rice they normally ate and cut it in half, and put the other half in a bag/container and donated that each week to the church in order to provide for other families who didn't have food to eat O.O

And the most mind-blowing verse of this entire passage--"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." The implications are huge for us as Christians/Christ-followers/mini-Christs, aren't they...... O.O

Pentateuch reflections + Ruth and God's heart for the widows

So this post is like months late!! But basically what I wanted to say is that one of the big things God was showing me through my reading of the Pentateuch was that the poor isn't just a charity case or this distant people group we're supposed to be praying for because the Bible tells us to defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow. But rather, they are our BROTHERS AND SISTERS!! I saw that mostly in Leviticus of all places O.O!! I feel like lately, God keeps affirming that this is a right view.... might be the longest post ever if I detail it more... so I won't!

We read through Ruth in PRIME a while ago (yeah.... the trend here seems to be long overdue reflections), and basically the Scripture screamed at me about how much God looooves and cares for widows... !! And I'm also reading through Luke with the middle school girls, and read Luke 7 yesterday about how Jesus raises a widow's son, her only son, and v. 13 says that when he saw her, "he had compassion on her." wowwow

Poverty in Genesis

Well Kristal forgive me for taking the first post of the new year but what's done is done :).

In the beginning, I think it's safe to assume that there was no poverty. Genesis keeps telling us that "God saw that it was good" even telling us that things were "very good" on the sixth day. Poverty is another distortion and twisting of God's creation.

Genesis is a book of beginnings. In particular, we see the beginning of humanity's collective descent into poverty. This spiral contains individual lowlights that show us that no one is immune. Lot, the only righteous man found in Sodom and the only one saved from God's wrath, ends up drunk and the father of his own grandsons (Genesis 19:30-38). Jacob cheats Esau. Esau vows to kill Jacob. Jacob runs. Jacob and his uncle go back in forth in conning each other (Genesis 27-31). Joseph angers his brothers with his arrogance to the point that they consider killing him and end up selling him off as a slave (Genesis 37:12-36).

However, Genesis also marks the beginning of God's plan to pull us out of poverty. And how does he do this? He fills our poverty with his fullness. I want to highlight two ways that God deals with poverty. The first is Sodom.

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." -Ezekiel 16:49

So why did God destroy Sodom? In their spiritual poverty, they stopped caring about others' material poverty. I would call this the fullness of God's wrath.

The second way is the story of Joseph. In it we see the worst kinds of poverty highlighted to extremes. I've already mentioned how Joseph was sold by his brothers. (The ancestors of Jesus were not always the best of people. But out of their poverty, God pulled out the greatest of our riches.) We also see Egypt and Canaan wasted by a terrible famine for 7 years. And what does God do here? We see God's hand guiding Joseph out of his poverty to becoming second-in-command of Egypt. In addition, God uses Joseph to ensure that a multitude of people do not die in seven years of material poverty - famine (with the side benefit that Jesus' ancestors also lived through famine).

It's easy to get depressed reading this book of beginnings. Humanity fails completely and utterly and keeps doing so from the start. The bright spots are somewhat dimmed by their imperfections. It goes without saying that we cannot save ourselves from our own poverty.

If our poverty is a lack then only God's fullness can fill it!

Defining "Poverty."

What's your personal definition of poverty? What makes a person "poor"? Or on the flip side, what does it mean to be "rich"?

I wanted to write another question but I forgot what it was.

Hope in Jesus..!

Unrelated to Genesis or Exodus or Leviticus.... but I read Isaiah 9 and it's EPIC O.O I just can't explain how mindblowing I find it. Here's the first 7 verses from the ESV version...

^{1 [a]} But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.^[b]

^{2 [c]} The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
³ You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
⁴ For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
⁵ For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon^[d] his shoulder,
and his name shall be called^[e]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

I am reminded that the hope is in CHRIST and this passage just really speaks to my social justice heart. There is hope in Jesus alone for the unreached/people in "darkness," hope for the oppressed, those at war, those countries with unstable or corrupt governments. Jesus is the true King and he reigns with JUSTICE and with righteousness. I am also reminded that our hope cannot be in the world or in people to solve these huge and often overwhelming issues since we are all tainted by sin... but our hope has to be in Christ alone. And then somehow we go out as his hands and feet, with his agenda and purposes that are so much higher than our own, and he somehow uses that. O_o ohmygoodness!

Question...

I'm only up to Genesis 12 with this lens as of now... but one thing I was wondering is, is it legit to say that God did not create the world to have poverty in it? It's not like it's in the creation account but also not explicitly stated or anything...

Thanksgiving!

In reflection, there is sooooo much to be thankful for, even in just this year alone. Above all else though, I am soooooo thankful for my relationship with Jesus. Coming from a non-Christian family, there really is no reason I should have been called out by God. The odds were saying that I shouldn't have become a Christ-follower, but by His grace and His crazy pursuit after me, here I am, saved and redeemed, by Jesus alone!

I realize day in and day out that we are the ones who are poor without Jesus... so thank you, Jesus, for giving your life for us on the cross, that we may have life to the full and have eternal life with you.

I pray for this study, that we may be in pursuit of and experience your amazing heart for the poor, O God. They are precious to you and you love them so much. And we want to be more like you and reflect more of your heart to this world. We love you.