"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."(Deuteronomy 8:3).
The value of this Truth extends beyond spiritual growth.
Charity alone cannot alleviate people's poverty. On the contrary, state or private dependence induces people to keep coming back for more.
I was sitting in a fastfood restaurant in Hawthorne, California a few months ago. One young person asked for some money from another costumer, who was dining right behind me. After the other gentleman offered the beggar some money, the same panderer started asking for more things — stamps, paper, etc. Once the state or a private source gives, there is no stopping the asking.
People need to take from an infinite Source, God Almighty, who gives liberally and rebukes no one for asking. (James 1: 4)
Individuals need wisdom, not bank accounts.
They need to learn about the skills imparted to them, to use the hands at the ends of their arms instead of depending on the hands at the end of someone else's arms.
Many people fall into poverty because of condemnation, which robs individuals of the capacity to stand up and take what they need in a world that prospers to the extent of reducing people to veritable bondage.
Without wisdom, a man cannot make and keep his money. "A fool and his money are soon parted", this maxim is not just an empty cliche, but a reality for individuals who have not received the welcome truth that they have worth, that they are worthy, that they can seek out and establish worth in their doings — by the power of the Holy Spirit.
For it is the Lord who gives you the power to get wealth.
We need to receive the life and blessings of the Lord — We need His life and leading in our lives in order to conceive and achieve anything in this life.
I remember talking to one younger lady in Westwood. She had been homeless for the last three years, wandering from her home in the Valley to West Los Angeles. What truly prevented her from succeeding in life was not her lack of necessary skills, but rather her attitude about the world and the current set of economic affairs. Convinced that handful of wicked greedy people controlled everything, she saw no reason to even try to doing anything. Such a deadened, despairing demeanor can only demean a person to the point that he or she will simply do very little beyond begging to get by.
It is a mindset of victimhood and victocracy (with generous thanks to Larry Elder) — as opposed to victory in Christ, which sets people back to such an extent. A mindset that there is nothing worthwhile to set one's mind to only incurs a barely get by mentality, one which has overcome many impoverished individuals.
Individuals who feel no sense of love, no sense of worth — which cannot be based solely on the self-presumption of an individual, especially one who has seen nothing but poverty and privation in his life.
People need to know who they are in God's eyes, in the mind and mission of Jesus Christ, who died impoverished and naked, that we may be rich on the inside and taken care of on the outside,
It's a matter of attitude, not charity, that propels people from poverty. Teach a man to fish, yes, but more importantly teach a man that he he is worthy, that he has the capacity and value to seek out what he needs, and that he will find the fish that he is looking for. Teach a man, once he catches and eats the fish, that life is indeed worth living, that the fish that he seeks alone cannot give him the life more abundant that every man seeks.
Alcoholics Anonymous — in the Twelve and Twelve — reluctantly reported that some recovering individuals never recover financially. The problem is not the drinking problem, per se, but the spiritual poverty induced by individuals who seek truth and stability in a world beset with falsehood and shifting values and priorities.