Why Should We Help The Poor?

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. Did you know that just one pair of shoes given to a child opens the door to share health, education, opportunity, and the love of Christ to a child in need in the world? Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls has been meeting this need for 25 years, providing more than 5 million pairs of shoes to children in some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. That's over 5 million opportunities to put a smile on a child's face and show the love of Christ to boys and girls living in desperate situations. Many times, these shoes introduce families to Christ-centered programs, helping them rise above poverty and achieve their God-given potential. You can make that difference now. Join Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls in changing the lives of children across the world through the gift of shoes. Go to GiveShoesToday.org and give to the special organization. That's GiveShoesToday.org. 18th century preacher John Wesley said, Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, in all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.

That's generous and faithful love. Specifically, Jesus called his followers to do good to the poor, and we'll talk about what that looks like for us. Then we'll take your calls today at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Generosity towards the needy is the hallmark of Christian living.

Jesus summarized the law with two commandments, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Helping the poor is a tangible way to love our neighbors. When we assist those in need, we show empathy, kindness, and compassion, core aspects of our faith. Luke 12 32 quotes Jesus telling his disciples, Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, sell your possessions and give to the needy, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Obviously, God expects us to be generous givers, and the Bible makes it clear we are also supposed to be good stewards of the resources he's given us.

I don't think those two concepts are in conflict. After all, biblical stewardship is a complete surrender of everything to God because everything belongs to him anyway. And God intends for us to be generous with his resources. He will continue to provide everything we need to live and to give. So John Wesley's suggestion that we do all the good we can by all the means we can makes perfect sense.

C.S. Lewis said, I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. We're supposed to be all in in our commitment to generosity. Opportunities to help the poor will always be available. Deuteronomy 15 11 confirms that, quote, the poor will never cease to be in our land, end quote. The Bible encourages us to take these opportunities whenever we can, whether it's those who belong to Christ, those outside the faith, and even our enemies. In a society often marked by selfishness and materialism, Christians can stand out by their commitment to helping others. According to the Bible Project, the Israelites of the Old Testament and the Jews of Jesus' time had a unique understanding of what it meant to give to the poor. Generosity in their cultural context wasn't just about giving money. Giving to the needy also meant showing mercy and compassion to those less fortunate than you. What this tells us is that believers can do right by God, practice righteousness through generosity.

Proverbs 14 31 demonstrates this connection when it says, the one who oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. So in Jesus' worldview, how a person related to the poor was an outward indication of how that person related to his maker, the God who made both the giver and the needy person. Bottom line, helping the poor reflects God's character.

God is described as compassionate, gracious, and merciful. Psalm 82 3 and 4 instructs, Defend the weak and the fatherless, uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed, rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. By helping the poor, Christians embody these divine attributes and demonstrate God's love and justice to the world. And while we must defend the rights of the poor, the Bible also tells us to include the needy in our financial giving. Proverbs 28 27 says, He who gives to the poor will lack nothing.

Okay, here's the dilemma some of us face. We know we should help the least of these in our communities, but how do we help people without helping them stay in the clutches of poverty? The Chalmers Center emphasizes that poverty is not just a lack of material resources, but a complex issue involving broken relationships with God, self, others, and creation. We must first recognize that poverty alleviation must address spiritual, relational, and material aspects. To avoid giving that causes harm, they advise avoiding giving handouts that create dependency, developing genuine supportive relationships with those being helped, being cautious about providing material goods that can be obtained locally, which might undermine local businesses, enabling individuals to use their gifts and abilities, and focusing on long-term solutions rather than temporary fixes. By understanding poverty and its full complexity and addressing its root causes, Christians can help in ways that promote dignity, sustainability, and genuine transformation. To learn more, check out the book, When Helping Hurts, How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself, or check out the Chalmers Center.

Back with your questions after this, 800-525-7000. As a faithful listener of the Faith and Finance Program, you know that there is life-changing financial wisdom in God's Word to meet all your needs. More than anything, FaithFi is here to help you and millions of others see God as your ultimate treasure. As a nonprofit, we're grateful for our partners that help expand our outreach every month with their generosity. Has God provided financial answers for you through this ministry?

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For licensing information, please visit nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Well, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance, helping you be that wise and faithful steward we know you desire to be as you manage God's resources. We want to help you look at money management through the lens of biblical wisdom, realizing there's a stark difference between a biblical worldview and a secular worldview. Of course, that applies to every facet of our lives, but that certainly includes this area of money management. We know that you were created with a longing for abundance and security and significance, and the world will tell you you can find that in the things of this world, namely wealth and money and the things that money can buy. We know that's a lie.

That's not true. It's fleeting, it's temporary, and it will never fill that God-sized shape in your heart and in your soul. And so when we see God as our ultimate treasure and money as a tool to accomplish his purposes, to provide and to enjoy and to give to those in need, to even fund the Great Commission, it's a good gift used for God's purposes. We want to help you do that and navigate those practical decisions you're making each day in your financial life.

So whether it's your lifestyle, your spending plan, maybe it's your debt repayment, you should use the snowball or the avalanche, or you've never heard of those. Well, let's talk about it. Maybe it's your giving strategy and how you can give more wisely through a charitable gift annuity or a donor advised fund, a tool that allows you to perhaps expand and extend your giving beyond what you ever imagined. We'd love to talk about that. Or perhaps today it's your investment portfolio. How do you navigate this market?

Any of those topics are in play. The number to call with your questions is 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's go to Grand Rapids to begin with. Jane, go right ahead.

Hi. I hope that you can maybe give me some guidance or suggestions. I have a grandson who will be a senior this year and he's going to an aviation school so he can take flight school, which is expensive. I would love to help him and I would pay for the whole thing if that was necessary, but I want him to work for it. I don't want to just give him the money.

How do I balance that? Yeah. Well, I love the fact that you're thinking through this in that way, Jane, because you want to bless your grandchild. You love that he's got a direction.

He feels like the Lord is leading. He's going to embark on some education around flight school and yet you recognize it's expensive and you want to balance that. I also love that you're prioritizing some of the lessons he can learn along the way of hard work, not only in terms of the books and the aviation and the studies, but also just working to pay for it. We value something more when we have some sweat equity that goes into our ability to see it through and I think you're wise in considering that. So perhaps there is a middle ground here and I think that's what you need to look for when we're considering something like this. I think the first question is your own financial readiness, just your ability to step in here and make sure that it's not going to create a financial hardship for you. And then I think another approach would be to think about matching his tuition payments. So maybe you do a dollar for every dollar that he puts in or you do two dollars for every one dollar he contributes if one for one is difficult.

But it reinforces this idea that, hey, we both have some skin in the game here. I want to bless you and help you. I also realize, you know, you putting in some work and being able to pay for part of this is going to make you appreciate it more. I also want you to make sure that you keep your focus primarily on your studies so you get through in the right time frame, which if it takes longer, it can cost more. But also that he, you know, ends with the knowledge and the skill set that he needs. So what about, A, your financial readiness and B, some sort of matching plan? Yeah, we are financially able to help him. That's not an issue at all.

I just want to do it right so that he can do it the best way. Yeah. Yeah. I think that makes a lot of sense. Is he going to have to borrow or will he does he have a plan to work and be able to fund it as he goes? Or what's the plan here for him? Well, my understanding is it's about eight thousand dollars for his senior year. He can take it along with his other classes at school.

And I think he's got to have it up front. He is working this summer. He's working as many hours as he can. But then once school starts, there's not a whole lot of hours for him to be working anymore. So I'm waiting to hear how he comes after the summer's efforts. Yeah.

Very good. And then what about his mom and dad? What role are they going to play in this? And have you been communicating with them about your desires to help? Yeah, they would like to. There's not a lot of financial backup there.

They want to, but they're not that able. OK. Yeah. Makes sense.

And are they on board with you stepping in and providing some of this assistance? Yes. Yeah. OK. Great. Yeah. I think we just always want to make sure we don't kind of usurp their role as parents.

And but I suspect they see this as a great blessing. Well, one approach, Jane, would be to say to him, listen, my desire is to help you. You know, I'm not going to pay for the whole thing.

I'm not even telling you what percent I am willing to pay. But I would like for you to come to me at the end of the summer or whenever he's ready and present a plan. And, you know, that kind of puts the onus on him to figure out, OK, how much am I going to have at the end of the summer?

How much could I realistically, you know, work perhaps during the school year when I have less hours available? How much can I cover? You're going to, you know, hopefully see a balance that he's unable to cover. You might find that he gets creative and has a plan to cover the whole thing. And you may still want to help and step in and do part of it. But maybe putting that onus back on him to come to you with a plan on how he's going to pay for it would create some, you know, work for him to do to understand the true cost of this thing.

Put some numbers to it and then give you the ability to react to that prayerfully with what you want to come back with. Does that make sense? Yeah.

Yeah, it really does. Yeah. So I'd go in that direction. Sit down with him. Maybe take him to breakfast or lunch. Tell him you want to help. But you need to see a plan from him on how he's going to pay for it. And you'll consider it at that point.

To Albuquerque. Hi, David. Go ahead. Yes, I appreciate your program on biblical principles.

I'm really blessed by this. I have a mortgage right now, about twenty thousand dollars, but I want to move to a different location. So I was thinking of getting into another loan to get another home.

What do you think? Would that be a good idea? Or would it be better just to pay off the first mortgage loan? Yeah, I don't think moving necessarily is dependent upon the mortgage that you have on the property.

It's really about your budget and whether you can afford the move you're wanting to make. But all of the equity in the current home, whether that's a hundred percent of the equity you have in the home today or a hundred percent of the equity minus the twenty thousand outstanding, can be rolled in. So most people don't wait until they just don't have the ability to wait until they pay off one property to go to the next. What they do is they just take the equity that they're building over time and move whatever equity is available from their current property to their new property. So what that means is we'd have to assuming you can sell this property first and a hundred percent of the available equity is is able to then be moved to this new property. You need to decide how much can you afford to spend, meaning you'd want to make sure that that equity is equal to at least 20 percent of the value of the property. And you want to make sure that if you're going to have a mortgage on this new property, assuming you're spending more, that it fits into your budget.

But I wouldn't say that you need to wait until you pay off the current property. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. Thank you for that information. OK. Did you have a follow up question?

Because I've got to take a break. We could tackle that on the other side. Or does that cover it? That covers it. Thank you very much. Very good, David.

Again, that rule of thumb is if you're looking to make sure that mortgage fits in your budget on the new property, let's try to keep that principal interest, taxes and insurance payment under 25 percent. And I think that'll help you out. Thanks for calling.

We'll be right back. Did you know the average person walks nearly 2000 miles a year? Now think about the millions of children around the world who risk disease and miss out on opportunities simply because they walk those 2000 miles without a decent pair of shoes. Around the world, Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls provides access to health, education, hope and opportunity through the gift of shoes.

Visit GiveShoesToday.org and find out how you can provide shoes for a child right now. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. It's time to take your calls and questions today. The number to call 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Our goal in this program every day is to reverently approach God's word, understanding that we are charged with a high calling and that is to be stewards or managers of the King of Kings resources. We want to do that in a way that's wise, that is infused by God's word, that's hopeful to encourage you in your role as a steward and lead you toward faithfulness. Well, we do that every day as we tackle your financial questions and hear your testimonies and don't miss that. We love to hear when God is at work in your financial life and you have a story to share where that you've applied these principles and you've seen God at work and faithfully providing for you over the years. Share those with us as well. The number to call to be a part of the program today is 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Weston, how can I serve you? Hey, so I'm 29 years old and, you know, fairly recently Jesus came into my life, my wife's life. We just got married not too long ago and I have children in my lives and the Lord's really blessed me with some new responsibility and stuff like that. In the past, I've always had a high level of income for my age, I would say especially, but I am self-employed. And with that, I'm now starting to look toward the future because I've wasted most of my finances on sinful living in the past. And now that, you know, I'm looking to do so and being self-employed, I'm looking at ways to set up retirement, you know, for my family and stuff like that in the long term. And so I guess my question are, like, when you look at things like IRAs or 401K accounts that you can set up individually, what is a good route to start with? I mean, we tithe and we do all the stuff we need to and we've been saving money, but I don't really know what to do with it in the long term. And on top of that is putting my money in a bank and doing that something that I can have some confidence in long term. Is it something I can trust?

Yeah, it's a great question. So first of all, let me just say how thrilled I am that you've trusted Christ as your Savior. That's the absolute most important thing you can do. I'm also thrilled to hear beyond that, that despite mistakes you've made in the past and we're all sinners in need of a Savior, that you really are trying to live a God-honoring life, including as a steward of what he's entrusted to you.

And that's wonderful. You know, I think as you think about saving for the future, the key is just to start where you are and be a steady plotter. And that just means that regardless of the lost time, that we try to live modestly so that we can free up margin so you can systematically put money away and invest for the future. So you've got something that can be an income stream alongside Social Security or any other income sources you have in a later season of life where perhaps you're either unable to work or God redirects you someplace else. In terms of the various retirement vehicles that are available to you, am I hearing that you don't have a retirement plan available at work?

Is that right? I do not. So I just started this company not too long ago. But yeah, I haven't set up anything. Like I said, this is pretty fresh. I would say I've been conscious of this since maybe the New Year.

So it's been a quick start and I'm realizing that the sooner I do something, the better. Yeah, great. Now, a solo 401k is an option for it's basically an individual K, but it's only for business owners or self employed individuals who don't have any full time employees other than themselves and their spouse. So that would not be you though, correct? Because you do have another employee? Yes, correct. Okay, yeah, so that wouldn't be an option.

So I think, you know, there's a couple of things you can do here. You know, you could look at a SEP IRA, a self employed IRA, you could also look at a, a simple IRA, which is just like the name implies, it's an IRA that's a lot simpler to maintain that stands for savings incentive match plan for employees. But it's basically a retirement plan for employees that allows them to save and invest for retirement.

There's not a lot of paperwork and annual compliance. They're often used by small businesses that don't have the resources to manage a larger retirement plan. And essentially, you know, the you can do an employer match for you and your other employee, you can't put away as much as you can in a 401k. But you can still, you know, put a significant amount away more than just a plain vanilla IRA traditional or Roth. So in 2024, employees can contribute up to 16,000 annually or 19,500. If you're 50 or older, there's a an option to make a catch up contribution. And it will be deducted from your taxes for the year. And then if you hired other employees, God blesses this business, it would allow you to say we have a retirement plan.

And you know, that can be a way to attract talent. So what I would do is first of all, absolutely a starting point, there's nothing easier than just opening a Roth IRA, if you don't have one for you and your wife. And you know, you can for 2024, you could put in $7,000 if you're under 50, or 8000 if you're 50 or older, and your wife could do that as well, whether she's working or not. So that would allow you to put away 14,000 between the two of you or 16 if either of you, you know, if you're both over 50. And you could open that with one of the discount brokerages like Schwab or Fidelity, and just start automatically putting that money aside every month, or certainly every year, as you're able to. And then if you have the ability to do more, you and your other employee could look at opening a simple IRA, which isn't again, not hard to do not a lot of maintenance and upkeep. And it would allow you on top of the traditional Roth IRA to continue to put money away. And that's really just going to be the key that you just do that faithfully. And I would dollar cost average it in no matter what the market's doing, just make that automatic contribution. Just one quick thought you asked about the banks, you know, I absolutely have confidence in you keeping your money in the bank, I think it's safer. You know, are there problems in this country economically?

Absolutely. We have some headwinds, you know, not to mention the political headwinds. But, you know, we've got runaway debt here in this country, we've got some macro problems with, you know, we're not having enough babies to replace the workers that are retiring.

So there are some challenges. And yet, by God's grace, we're still the largest and most productive economy in the world. And we're getting more productive, which is going to offset some of those macro trends, just through technology and AI and a few other things. So I still believe in this country.

And I think the backing of the United States government, even though there is always risk, when we're looking at the US in light of the rest of the world and grading on a curve, the US, there's really not anybody in the rearview mirror that's very close. And so I would say I would have confidence in you putting the money into the bank and trusting that that's a safe place to keep it. Hope that's helpful to you. God bless you, Westin. So delighted that you've trusted Christ and thanks for calling today.

Well, folks, that's going to do it for us today. So thankful for your encouragement. You guys are the best. And we love hearing your stories, being invited into those stories, being able to journey with you and help you find God's heart for the resources He's entrusted to you. We also appreciate, as always, your kind remarks about the program today. We certainly couldn't do this without our amazing team that helps us make this happen today, our call screeners, as well as our producer, Devin Patrick, and our researcher today, Taylor Standridge. Plus everybody here at FaithFie. May the Lord bless you. Thanks for being with us today. Faith and Finance is provided by FaithFie and listeners like you.