“Hear therefore, O Israel, and do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Deuteronomy 6.3

The Church is the key to any community realizing the blessing of God. Through its worship, example, leadership in carrying out the Law of God, faithfulness in working for justice, zeal to bring the blessings of God to its community, and diligence in prayer, a local church may help its community to regard poverty, not as a problem or blight, but as an inducement to neighbor-love and a means for realizing the blessings of God.

Obedience to God’s Law must begin within the household of faith. However, it must not be restricted to the church, as we have seen. Because the Law of God commends practices and policies which are conducive to societies in which love and justice flourish, those who know, love, and obey the Law of God must work to bring its benefits, as far as that is possible, to all their neighbors as well.

The way out of poverty is not difficult. It begins with opportunity – for work with dignity, education, and the assistance of a loving community – and it progresses through improved self-image, responsibility, and stewardship. All of this must be modeled and taught within local churches and by their members in the larger community.

But Christians must also work to support public policies that guide the poor onto such paths, and to resist those which have the effect of creating a permanent “underclass” in which the ultimate beneficiaries are not the poor who will be with us always, but the politicians and bureaucrats who obscure the image and calling of God under a veneer of taxes and entitlements.

T. M. Moore

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