Consider those who are poor

In President John Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address, he admonished: "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: Ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

As citizens of the kingdom of heaven, we need to ask ourselves not what God can do for us, but what we can do for the kingdom of heaven. Far too many times, we stand with our pockets turned inside out and beg, "Lord, fill 'em."

Yet God says in his word that he will bless us as we bless others. He says to give to the least of those in his kingdom.

I don't think the trickle-down theory of economics works when the "have" people get greedy and don't trickle down the wealth to the "have-nots." As Jesus talked about the rich man who begged the beggar Lazarus for a drink of water (Luke 16:19-31), he made it clear that God will redistribute wealth on the scales of eternity, and all greed buys is a one-way ticket to hell.

God talks a lot about money in his word, and it's usually to tell us not to worship it. He calls himself Jehovah Jireh, I Am the Lord Your Provider.

He promises to provide all our needs, but he repeatedly warns against selfishness and stinginess. The God who doesn't have a selfish bone in his body has no use for us when we do.

Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey's 1981 book, "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," warns, "The body will have health only if each cell regards the needs of the whole body."

We need some fat cells in our physical bodies to insulate, ensure survival from the cold, and cushion organs and muscles from jarring shocks. We also need fat and wealth in the body of Christ so we can insulate and protect each other, help people survive the cold realities of life and cushion each other from the jarring shocks of this world.

God is not a "gimme" God; he's a giving God. And he's not raising us to be "gimme" children. Yet we guzzle the milk of father's kindness when we need to share the carton.

In Bodie and Brock Thoene's novel "Of Men and Angels," a character named Joseph Connor Burke, a wealthy Irish landowner, says, "If I pray and weep for freedom from the tyranny of kings, how can I accept the yoke of bein' owned by things? That is another tyranny, sure, but slavery of my soul, just the same. Do I belong to my possessions?"

In the apostle Paul's instructive metaphor of the human body as the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12, he warned about the dangers to the church when we become rebellious and self-serving. Paul was a busy preacher to the gentiles of his day, but he took months out of his schedule to collect money from Greek Christians in order to help the impoverished Christians of Jerusalem.

His actions preach to me. Many of us are blessed, and we're downright fat in terms of the world's goods, preaching and whatever we need for our bodies or souls. If we just become greedy and fat, we're tumors who gobble the lives of other human beings.

Brand and Yancey wrote, "God needs all kinds of cells in his body: fat and thin, rich and poor, simple and complex. But he only needs loyal cells. And in the area of using resources, Jesus, our head, had many unsettling things to say. God save us from being a cancer within his body."

We're called to be generous neighbors. Kindness counts in the kingdom, and greed gets God's thumbs-down.

June Seabaugh is a member of Christ Church of the Heartland in Cape Girardeau.