Remember David and Goliath?
I love that story. I love the fact that in order to defeat Goliath, David went into a very intense workout routine and bulked up. And then he took some martial arts classes and trained under the top slingshot ninjas. And then he jumped through Saul’s bureaucratic hoops and filed all of the paperwork to start a non-profit organization where he could pass on his knowledge and ensure that the Philistines never produced another Goliath that couldn’t be dealt with by the Israelites and their new program. He defeated one giant by building a bigger one.
Wait…he didn’t do those things? He just went out there, flung a rock, and killed a giant without a program in place?
This coming Saturday, October 17th, marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty as declared by the U.N. in 1992. I’ve been thinking lately about how things would look without poverty – how would the world be different? How would that affect our foreign policy? How would that affect you? What might that mean for Christianity?
These are big questions because poverty is a big problem affecting a staggering number of people – it is, without any exaggeration, a giant in need of slaying. And it is at this point that we must ask: what is it going to take to make poverty history?
Most of us assume if the problem is big, the solution must be bigger – so we support big non-profits with lots of statistics about their effectiveness and agree in prayer with the leaders of these organizations asking God to make them bigger, to give them more money, more volunteers, more opportunities, etc. We want God to use them.
Because the best way to slay a giant is to build a bigger giant – right?
David didn’t think so and neither do I. No, best way to slay a giant is to take what you have and offer it to God in service. It doesn’t matter if you have a lot or a little (trust me, anything you have is considered “little” in the face of poverty), God will use whatever you have and amplify, magnify, and multiply it. Your challenge, then, is not to find the biggest poverty-fighting giant out there and give all of your money to it, but to look around your community and begin identifying needs. Then, do something. That’s all. Don’t do everything (you couldn’t if you wanted to), but do something.
And if you do something, over and over and over again, you’ll get a glimpse of the giant on his way down.
If you need help thinking of small ways you can get involved, check out our “Small (Big)Ways to Address Poverty” on our website www.leavethebuilding.com under the Resources section. Happy giant-slaying!
PS – Check out our related press release: “In the Face of Poverty, Small Actions Win the Day Says House Church Leader”.
This is an excellent read and should get more exposure. God is calling us to “act in faith, believing”, not expect someone else to do it.
I’m not speaking to your example, but a lot of people forget that the stone didn’t kill Goliath, it only knocked him out, so that David could run up to him and cut his head off.
By: Mark Isherwood on October 15, 2009
at 9:37 PM
It’s something God has been dealing with me a lot about lately.
Sometimes we (as Christians – or others) look to “the church” for help and for things we need.
But we are looking in the wrong place.
We are “the church”. Every individual is part of a larger “community” (as you say Ken). WE ARE THE CHURCH.
When we reach out and serve others, our needs are met by the church, which is every single Christian around us.
Sometimes we forget that “the church” isn’t a building or organization, but US.
We have become self-centered and seek out a “church” that serves us, when we just need to serve God in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in.
If we are serving God with our whole hearts, we are happy no matter where we are and don’t judge people but understand how to interact with them.
By: Mark Isherwood on October 16, 2009
at 3:14 PM
[...] was when writing about how social justice is not a program when I wrote about how when it comes to eradicating poverty, we don’t need a bigger giant on October 13th. Though poverty may be a big problem, the [...]
By: Top 10 Comments of 2009 « A House Church Blog on January 26, 2010
at 8:34 AM