God Helps Those Who...

Think again...

The good news: "God helps those who help themselves" is not a true statement. Never was.

The truth is: God helps those who CAN'T help themselves.

God is not the god of the capable, the rich, the fat and the unconcerned--far from it. God is the God of the disenfranchised, the weak, the weary, the mourning, the incapable, the helpless, the downtrodden and the sick.

Christ didn't hang with the elite, the cream of the crop, and those who had manipulated others to their own ends. He hung down with the freaks and the ghouls, those who had been cheated by those elbowing their way to the top. He hung out with those who had to steal to feed their families, those who had to sell their bodies to survive in the here and now, those who had been exploited to the point of poverty and illness by the rich.

And did he frown on them for their reliance on handouts? Did he scorn them when they asked for healing, or even for money? Did he chastise them for having to do illegal things because of the immorality of those above them?

No.

He loved them. He decided that they were his people--the downtrodden, the poor, the sick, the criminals. He said that the poor would be rich in his kingdom, because they refused to step on their fellow man and had fallen behind. He said those who were quick to listen and learn would inherit the earth, because they weren't so arrogantly certain of themselves and what they attested to. He said that those who were mourning because they couldn't feed their child--they would be comforted despite those who had overlooked them.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 indicates that being arrogant, comfortable, overfed and unconcerned are detestable things in God's sight. That those who decided that their place was secure and they didn't need to care at all for the fate of those around them were to be despised above all men. Because Sodom was so arrogant and overfed, the Lord said, it was destroyed. Ignore the plight of those around you and take whatever you want that doesn't belong to you for your own pleasure, and you'll be destroyed. Pretty harsh lesson.

That's why God is not the god of America.

Those who are overfed and unconcerned cannot count themselves with God, because God doesn't count Himself with them.

God is the God of those suffering in Africa, who lack clean water and are dying from AIDS. God is the God of those in South Asia, where overpopulation kills thousands of children a year. God is the God of those oppressed by tyrannical governments, despots, plagues, fires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, inequality, slander and hatred.

God helps those who CAN'T help themselves.

And how does He help them, one might ask?

He's already taken care of that.

And here's a hint: it's your job, Christian.

In Matthew 25, Jesus makes it pretty clear that the Lord's work is to be done by his followers. "Whatever you've done for the least of these, my brothers, you've done for me."

"These are my people...

They are starving...

They are sick...

They are in prison...

They are naked...

Feed them.

Heal them.

Comfort them.

Clothe them.

Because I help those who cannot help themselves."