The Millennium Development Goals (commonly referred to as MDG’s) were a set of objectives adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 with a target date of 2015. It was a grand plan which included, among other things, the eradication of extreme poverty, hunger and communicable disease.
We are now approaching the culmination of 2011, and although great strides have been made, we have not even scratched the surface when it comes to finding solutions to humanity’s looming crises. 2011 has been a difficult year for millions of people as evidenced by the natural disasters, labour unrest and disease outbreaks experienced. Even the average middle-class family is experiencing difficulty in eking out a living in a world of global recession, spiraling food and fuel prices, labour and political unrest. The signs mentioned by Christ in Matt 24 are becoming more and more pronounced as we draw nearer to His Coming.
As world leaders scramble to find a solution to the problems that plague us, I am reminded of Jesus’ poignant words in Mark 14:7. “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good, but Me ye have not always.” It was a prophetic statement indeed! Jesus predicted that poverty will still be in existence at His Coming. The rich will still be exploiting the poor. It will be business as usual. His remark was a rebuke to Judas who used the poor as an excuse to cover up his own embezzlement and his love of riches which led him to betray his Lord.
Poverty exists in many forms in this world. Those who are rich in the wares of the world are often poor in spiritual things. Those who are poor in goods are often rich in spirit, but not always so. There are some who are poor physically and spiritually, who don’t even have a concept of God at all.
Jesus had compassion on the poor. The Bible does not commend laziness and makes a clear distinction between poverty in its true state and poverty due to laziness (Prov 6:9-11). However, we tend to generalize and employ stereotypes which are sometimes unfair. We sometimes incorrectly assume that all the world’s poor are just plain lazy, but in reality the problem has a root much deeper than laziness.
The problem lies in the fact that we, like the rich young ruler who walked away from Jesus, have placed our love and confidence in our riches , forgetting that the love of money is the root of evil (1 Tim 6:10). We have forgotten that it is God who gives every man his ability to get wealth (Deut 8:17-18).
As a result, we have omitted the weightier matters of the Law and we do not love mercy or walk humbly with our God (Mic 6:8). We often do things for the poor, but our deeds lack the love of Christ and are wrapped in hidden motives (1 Cor 13:3).
In our world, poverty is surprisingly often viewed as either a result of laziness or a curse because of a person’s sins. Poverty will only be eradicated with the true Millennium when King Jesus sets up His government which will never end.
