What it means to know God

I came across a verse recently I'd never noticed, in Jeremiah 22. Beginning in verse 14, Jeremiah records the actions of the king, and the Lord's response.

14 "He says, 'I will build myself a great palace
       with spacious upper rooms.'
       So he makes large windows in it,
       panels it with cedar
       and decorates it in red.
 15 "Does it make you a king
       to have more and more cedar?
       Did not your father have food and drink?
       He did what was right and just,
       so all went well with him.
 16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
       and so all went well.
       Is that not what it means to know me?"
       declares the LORD.

It's probably completely unnecessary, but I'll summarize what's said:
The king, not content with what he has, builds himself a great palace, with the most expensive wood, and the brightest decorations. God says, "Is wealth what makes a king? Your father had what he needed, and because he sought righteousness and justice, I ensured his reign went well and his kingdom was secure. He cared about the poor and those in need, which is what it means to know me. You don't defend the poor and needy (that's only implied, but it's clearly implied) - you defend your wealth. You don't know me.

We, as evangelicals, tend to make a big deal of the fact that we have a "personal relationship with God", and well we should, because that's an amazing thing. But if we listen to verse 16, it's likely that God would say to quite a few of us, "You don't know me - you know about me, you have beliefs about me, you prayed a prayer in church one day, but if you KNEW me, if you truly had a relationship with me, your heart would reflect my heart, and my heart is for the poor and needy. It's impossible to be close to me, and not have a transformed heart toward the people I love."

So, what do you do for your poor? Giving to your church only counts to the degree your church cares for the poor (and some barely do, while some do a lot). But the average evangelical gives around 3% to your church, so even if some churches passed all of that on to the poor (and none do), we're not doing so well. What other causes do you support that help the poor and needy? UNICEF? World Vision? A local soup kitchen or homeless shelter? How much do you give them, as a percentage of your gross income? My wife and I support two children with World Vision, at $35 a piece, per month. That adds up. But it doesn't add up very much - $840 a year for the poor, normally, is how much we give. A little more when you add in the occasional gift to people on the side of the road or touching causes online. Perhaps that sounds like a lot to you, perhaps it's astoundingly low. But to me, if I'm honest, and we assume that my bank statement reflects my priorities, it doesn't sound like my heart matches God, it doesn't sound like my relationship with him has changed me to obsess over the poor and needy the way he does. If you're a typical evangelical, yours doesn't either. How much time do you spend volunteering for the poor? I've done a lot of things like that in my life, but currently my answer is zero. Again, I suspect that's true for many of us, and if our calendars show where our hearts lie, I'm not making time for the things God wants me to.

Let's talk in terms of discretion. When was the last time you actually decided not to buy a specific thing you wanted, so you could better help those who have less? Maybe you didn't buy the new gadget, or you kept driving the old car instead of buying new, or you passed on that great looking new gray t-shirt. I'm not talking about saying, "I can't get that for myself; I don't have the money." I'm talking about saying, "I won't get that for myself, I'd rather give the money." That probably hasn't happened to you lately; I know it's been quite a while since it happened to me, although I do enjoy a fair amount of the former internal monologue. When was the last time you passed on something you really enjoyed, because you chose to take your time to help someone in need? I think if you and I really had hearts that matched God's heart for the poor, that's what it would look like.

But that's not what it looks like. I should say, that's not what we look like. I was touched deeply by the book "The Hole in Our Gospel", which talks about how we don't care for the poor the way we should. In the book, Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision, shares estimates that it would take roughly $165 billion a year to eradicate extreme poverty - to provide everyone who doesn't have them now with a simple place to sleep, clothing, basic medicine, and food. He then shares a litany of horrifying statistics about how we spend our money, which I don't have in front of me, as the book is in a box somewhere. But, listen - $165 billion a year is a lot of money - about 5% of the current US budget, off the top of my head. It's also about 3 times the amount of money Americans spend on their pets, annually. The money is out there to stop 22,000 children from dying a day due to preventable, poverty related causes, and there's enough money out there that we, as evangelicals, could do it by ourselves if we had the same attitude toward the poor that God does. But we, in the words of James, spend what we get on our pleasures. There's nothing wrong with enjoying things in life - that would be other extreme. But there is something wrong with not caring for the poor, and finding life in things. I believe many of us are at that extreme, and we need to get to know God, be changed to be more like him, and care for the poor like he does.

One more question: when you go to the ballots in November, how much thought have you put into how your vote will affect the poor? Not how much thought have you put into justifying the idea that your vote is better for the poor, which is what we all want to do, but how honestly and carefully have you analyzed the plans, pluses and minuses of the candidates, from the perspective of the poor and needy? That's what we all will do, if we share God's concern. Some of you are doing great - you know who you are. The rest of us think we're doing fine, and we're not. Do you want to fix that, or leave it that way?

In closing, I've heard that there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible about God's concern for the poor or caring for the poor. I don't know most of them, and I've never counted them myself. But here's a few references for further reading:

Proverbs 14:31 - "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him."
Matthew 19:21 - "Sell your possessions and give to the poor" is what Jesus told the rich young ruler.
Matthew 25:31-46 - Whatever you do to the least of these - how are we treating Jesus?
Galatians 2:10 - Paul and the other apostles all prioritize remembering the poor.
James 1:27 - Religion that pleases God has two parts. Purity, and caring for widows and orphans. Not in that order.
James 2:1-13, but especially 4-7. "...has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"