Oppression of The Poor
Tuesday's Devotion (5-15-07)
"He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want." Proverbs 22:16 (KJV)
We talk about how we should give to the poor a lot, but what about how we shouldn't oppress the poor? You can oppress the poor in many ways. You could rip them off in business, and the list just goes on. What most major corporations know is that their money comes from the poor. They target poor people, because they know that they're poor because they buy into garbage. Most rich people are rich because they're smarter with their money. I'm not trying to be cruel, I'm just stating the facts (As many companies look at them.) They will sell you trash so that they can become richer. In other words, they'll make you poorer to make themselves richer. And that's wrong! In my opinion, that's a form of oppression. They will tell you that you need it, even if you don't. They'll tell you that it's a great product even if it's the worse product ever made. As Christians, we can still be business men and women, but we can't let ourselves run business as the world does. Our priority should be to help the poor, and to give to the poor not to take from them. I believe that if we have this mindset, God will bless us and we will be successful.
Let's look at something else. I used to work at a Burger King... Did you know that at closing time all the left over food gets tossed out? I'm talking about hamburgers that were sitting, waiting to be sold. If it isn't tossed out, then employees take more than they need home with them. Some will take 10 plus hamburgers home with them when the restaurant closes. And this isn't just a Burger King thing, this is how all the restaurants are. But let's look at this blatant waste of food, and then when the poor come knocking at the door of these places for food... They are turned down! You could say that they can't judge who is really poor, right? Well, it's not hard to judge a poor man when he enters YOUR parking lot and starts rummaging through thrash for food! For crying out loud, give him the leftovers! Why waste that food? And I guess it goes to say that this isn't just a restaurant problem. Americans especially are so wasteful with food and other supplies, instead of giving we throw it away. If you go into a rich neighborhood you'll see people throwing out perfectly good television sets, etc. Why are these things in the trash if they work properly? Give them away, just because it's trash to you doesn't mean it is to everyone else. There's always going to be a poor person who needs what you have. You can't say that nobody needed it!
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins as we forgive all those who've sinned against us. Help us to be more giving, and help us not to oppress our fellow man, but to help our fellow man. In Jesus name. A-men!
God bless