“He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given.” – Proverbs 19:17 

Scripture reading: Proverbs 28:19-22

Poor people are all around. You see them on the streets asking for help. You see their images on TV at Christmas time and you hear the pleas to help them. There are also the poor among the people of God who need help and they must be your first priority. You start with helping at home! (By the way, those who teach that Christians who are poor are only poor because they lack faith are unkind and wrong. God may providentially want some to be poor so they can empathize with other poor people and help them. God may also ordain people to be poor in order that the rich could learn to care for them.)

In order to help the poor in the church, God appointed deacons. Along with deacons, God wants you to be merciful to the poor and help them. But you are not only to help the poor by giving them money. In fact, money may not be their greatest need. They may need a rebuke and they may need advice on how to spend money. They may need encouragement to be patient in poverty. You may help the poor by speaking up for them if someone is abusing them.

Your motivation to show kindness is in the fact that Jesus showed love to you and enriched you. As a result, you would want to help His people, especially the poor ones.

Suggestions for prayer

Pray that God will show you those who are truly needy and that you will be generous and reflect on how rich you are in Jesus.

This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. Rev. Mitchell Persaud is pastor of New Horizon URC in Scarborough, ON, a mission church under the oversight of Cornerstone URC in London, ON. He was born in Guyana, South America, into a Hindu home, baptized Roman Catholic, raised Pentecostal and then became Reformed.