“Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it.”
― Criss Jami, Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality
I applaud the work of Park Cities Baptist Church. For the past 18 years, they’ve made a commitment to helping people living in the rural “colonias” on the outskirts of McAllen, Edinburg and Pharr, TX. The PCBC team builds and distributes beds, and does basic construction on homes chosen by two rockstar Hispanic pastors dedicated to helping their communities. These colonias are some of the poorest zip codes in the United States. The residents are stuck in a desperate cycle of poverty that zaps all hope for a better life. I got back to Disneyland (Dallas) on Saturday night, after a short 4-day trip with the PCBC team.
The trip got me thinking about a verse in John 12:8, spoken by Jesus, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” There’s no additional context given by Christ, no parable to unwrap, and almost a flippant feeling of que sera sera… and scene. But I knew there had to be more, and went online to find insight on the verse. Turns out Christ was referencing verses from the Old Testament, and likely testing His audience to see how well they had listened to their rabbi’s teachings.
“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be … For the poor you will always have with you in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’” (Deuteronomy 15:7-11)
Not much to expand on regarding the directive, it’s a command to help those in need. There’s no grey area, no wiggle room for us to first assess whether the person deserves help or not. I’ve also struggled to find the verses that say “Feel free to do this only when convenient.” Dammit.
For me to understand these verses, I had to lose big, had to watch dreams die a slow death, I needed my plans disrupted continuously. I had to be put on the mat with no way to get up. When I found myself broke — again — no matter how well I planned, or how efficiently I executed, and the bank account continued to be negative, then the verses like those in Deuteronomy began to resonate. In other words, I hadn’t come to the end of self. I still thought I was savvy and tenacious enough to muscle over the mountains. I perceived “me” as master of my universe, able to control the chess moves of my life. Trust me, you’ll know when that freeing moment happens. It’s scary but oh so liberating to realize God controls your provision, or health is another power-play by the Lord. The best place a person can land is the absolute recognition of his or her place in the pecking order of life. The resulting outcome will be a big dose of humble pie, and a newfound empathy for the struggles of others. You’ll pass judgment less often, and you’ll listen well and be the ambassador of grace the Lord wants you to be.
Every person reading this post has to decide how much of scripture they believe. Spoiler alert, you won’t find any verses that say “Cherry-pick what works for your definition of truth, kick to the curb the verses that challenge you.” In other words, the Bible wasn’t written for us to say we like maybe 50% of it, give or take. In poker vernacular, scripture is “all in.” Let me preface by saying if you would’ve met me a week before Friday, October 22nd, 1999, I would’ve told you all of scripture was complete bullshit, and why do adults insist on believing in the tooth fairy. Then, on said date, God grabbed me in a metaphorical headlock and said, “Look here young buck, you ain’t all that.” He essentially provided a proper ass-kicking in a most loving way, and informed me of who’s in charge of all things truth.The most common push-back I hear from people who do not believe in Christianity is the fact that the Bible was written by people. The idea being, people are fallible and untrustworthy, therefore how can we base our reality on a 3,400 yr-old document that was likely fabricated. Sometimes the statement is said with humility and genuine struggle, which I have plenty of grace for the doubt. Oftentimes it’s said in a sort of gotcha moment, like a big reveal occurred. When that tone is played, I fire back, “Ask tougher questions. All the scholars at the top seminaries and universities in the country are very aware. You haven’t cracked some secret code no one knew.”If you’re dismissive of the text, my challenge for you is disprove the Bible. A big chunk of people around the world, with very large brains, have wrestled deeply, asked all the tough questions, and decided (with God shedding light) that the document is true, down to every last tittle. You need to bring a mountain of evidence to disprove this timeless book. It doesn’t allow room for people to say “Good for you, ML, but I’ve got my own spirituality.” You have to create a bigger truth that disproves the Bible and Christ, and more than a flimsy opinion. As I’ve mentioned in the past, when you do empirically prove the content is false, you will, without a doubt, be the most famous person in the history of the world, bar none.
Which circles back to having to decide whether the Deuteronomy scripture is what we have to believe and live out. I could just as easily be poor and homeless, and only by the grace and mercy of the Lord am I not. Since my vaunted talent, tenacity and ego had nothing to do with my position or roof over my head, I for damn sure better have open hands and give to those in need. They deserve to have my stuff because my stuff wasn’t mine in the first place. The Lord provided it, and I deserve el zilcho.
See ya next time. ML