Poverty of the Soul

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Rachel20

Senior Member
May 7, 2013
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How many of us have ever been at that stage of abject poverty where we don't know where our next meal will be?

I am not asking this to make any of you feel bad or if you are really in such dire straits, to make you feel despair.

Coming from a country like India, where people don't even have three meals a day, and which has the largest population of the poor, I have seen poverty at close quarters - inequality so great that it will shock you to the core.

How can you not have any responsibility towards others, when right outside are people living in the most pathetic conditions known to man?

As Mahatma Gandhi said -
"There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”


I don't expect most westerners to understand or even comprehend what I am trying to put across. These things, these sights- you have to live it to experience it. But I am throwing this across to you so that today you might find something to be grateful for.

It's easy to feel moved and some semblance of compassion when these topics come up. We all feel bad about ourselves, we may do some charitable act but we move on. There will always be poor people in the land.

Mother Teresa is a familiar name. She was a woman who served others, in the name of Jesus. She was lauded by many and she captured the hearts of the Indian people in a way like no other.

Someone asked her about poverty. This is what she had to say.
"
We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. "
"

The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God. "


So are you hungry for God?
Today, are you poor?

I want to say this -

I rejoice in my poverty.

Because this -

Luke 6:20-21

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.


And this -

2 Corinthians 8:9

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 by his poverty might become rich.


And those of you, who have a little of that wealth, that wealth of love and joy that you want to give to others -
Rejoice too -

Because this -

Matthew 25:34-40
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"



I am proud to be so privileged. Privileged to be in the midst of poverty - poverty of the stomach, poverty of the soul.
I thank and praise God for that.
 
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And I feel privileged that The Lord has called me to love and to be generous. :). I don't have everything completely figured out yet... But it is a process. I am one who experiences poverty of loneliness, but I'm sure my loneliness doesn't even begin to compare to others loneliness.

I heard once... That if you live in America, you are richer than 90% of the world. What an eye opener.
 
Raine said:
And I feel privileged that The Lord has called me to love and to be generous. :). I don't have everything completely figured out yet... But it is a process. I am one who experiences poverty of loneliness, but I'm sure my loneliness doesn't even begin to compare to others loneliness.

I heard once... That if you live in America, you are richer than 90% of the world. What an eye opener.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I´m idealizing you, but I have seen you as generous as rainbow drops.

Probably you haven´t heard about Uncle Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). This is the way I used to think rich people were and, the facts are, many POOR people behave the same way he does. :)
 
"Thou Who wast rich beyond all splendour,
But for our sakes becamest poor,
Thrones and dominions didst surrender,
Sapphire paved courts for stable floor,
Thou Who wast rich beyond all splendour,
But for our sakes becamest poor."
 
Hi, Rachel!

Thanks for confirming me Mother Teresa is also liked her own country.

Poverty is not solely a condition of the outer state, but a condition of the inner man (or woman). I have dealt with poverty since i was a child, though I received more than I needed (or deserved from my loved ones).

Charity is but too little, though a necesary need (to many). I do agreed in giving, but I do love to teach people TO CATCH THEIR FISH, instead of giving them a fish.

I don´t know India but I know the unwillingness of the people I´m being with and, according to the confort I have seen inside my own family members, poverty is an state is the mind, not the real state of the mind.

God is able to feed me! he is able to feed me but, if I´m lazy enough to move a single finger... And that is the case inside the country I´m now, the ways I´ve been walking on.

I´m glad I felt desolated when I got divorced. I gave me the chance to receive MANY friends hands to help me walk (again and alone), so I needed to know that poverty I had forgotten and to be RICH, by accepting to receive people´s help (one I was used to dismiss).

I don´t know why!

Now I feel better couping with "poor" people than dealing with those who want to be rich (or reached out).
 
I have often wondered, "why me?" Why am I not living in Bangladesh, India, or Cambodia? I could be ignorantly worshiping my ancestors, or searching through a landfill trying to find food.

Or, I could be a Christian in Nigeria. I read today that hundreds of our brothers and sisters were just killed by Boka Harem, who had disguised themselves as members of the Nigerian military.

But I'm not. I live in relative security and safety. Now security isn't actually a real thing, of course. It's only a feeling. No king or potentate in history has ever been truly secure from every factor. My heart might explode as I write this, or I might die of food poisoning tomorrow.

I'm getting off-subject a little here, but my main point is, I am not looking through a dump for enough food for my family. And we know Jesus told us, " But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation." But if you follow the Biblical commandments on giving and charity, you can never be rich. No matter how much money is around you, if it all belongs to God and you do what He wants you to do with it, you become a vessel for Him.

And this I know. No one will be hungry or lonely or desolate in Heaven. God promised to restore the years the locusts have eaten. And while that doesn't excuse us from helping others, by any means, it is a comfort for when you can't help everybody.
 
Raine said:
And I feel privileged that The Lord has called me to love and to be generous. :). I don't have everything completely figured out yet... But it is a process. I am one who experiences poverty of loneliness, but I'm sure my loneliness doesn't even begin to compare to others loneliness.

I heard once... That if you live in America, you are richer than 90% of the world. What an eye opener.
Click to expand...


Yet, there are those who are impoverished in their inner-most being even living among the 90%. The sad part it that there few that are brave while the others turn a blind eye to these most unfortunate few, or even the one. This is not an eye opener but it may be a spiritual awaking to those that hear the cries of the Lord and are brave enough to take action.
 
Raine said:
Thank you for your encouraging words. :)

I will use it in times of discouragement.
Click to expand...

Hmmm! If you are not that loner you think you are, just poke on me or send me a PM, but I´m also sure several people in here would like to hear from you, like our common tourist friend.

:)

There was a man who once wrote: "... that is invisible to the eyes."

https://unlugarenelarcoiris.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/principito.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qXEd9qfXaJY/UOcxfMDfH0I/AAAAAAAAGsE/Una4lR5ZHtc/s1600/EL+PRINCIPITO.jpg

The Little Prince - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Thank you all for the responses.


There is an old Indian saying

"If you look for God, you can find Him anywhere."

I just know though, that God is found among the poorest of the poor, the least of the least. Our King is among the broken, the lost and the suffering.

For the least among us all will be the greatest and the first shall be the last.

Jesus said when you give a feast, invite the lame, the blind , the crippled, those who can't repay you and we will be repaid at the resurrection.

We are blessed and privileged to share in the poverty of others.
 
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JimJimmers said:
I have often wondered, "why me?" Why am I not living in Bangladesh, India, or Cambodia? I could be ignorantly worshiping my ancestors, or searching through a landfill trying to find food.

Or, I could be a Christian in Nigeria. I read today that hundreds of our brothers and sisters were just killed by Boka Harem, who had disguised themselves as members of the Nigerian military.

But I'm not. I live in relative security and safety. Now security isn't actually a real thing, of course. It's only a feeling. No king or potentate in history has ever been truly secure from every factor. My heart might explode as I write this, or I might die of food poisoning tomorrow.

I'm getting off-subject a little here, but my main point is, I am not looking through a dump for enough food for my family. And we know Jesus told us, " But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation." But if you follow the Biblical commandments on giving and charity, you can never be rich. No matter how much money is around you, if it all belongs to God and you do what He wants you to do with it, you become a vessel for Him.


**Rachel20 highlights**
And this I know. No one will be hungry or lonely or desolate in Heaven. God promised to restore the years the locusts have eaten. And while that doesn't excuse us from helping others, by any means, it is a comfort for when you can't help everybody.
Click to expand...

Luke 6:20

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
 
"Jesus said when you give a feast, invite the lame, the blind , the crippled, those who can't repay you and we will be repaid at the resurrection."

I have lived out He repays me here and alive.
 
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