WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE POOR
We will always have the poor.
Deuteronomy 15: 11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am instructing you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land.
Matthew 26: 11 For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
Mark 14: 7 For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me.
John 12: 8 For you always have the poor with you, but you don't always have me.
All of us need to know Christ, even the poor.
Matthew 11: 5 The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them.
Luke 4: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
Luke 7: 22 So He answered them, "Go tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them."
We all have a responsibility to the poor.
Proverbs 14: 20-21 The poor is hated even by his neighbor, but those who love the rich are many. He who despises his neighbor sins, but happy is he who is gracious to the poor.
Proverbs 14: 31 He who opposes the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.
Proverbs 29: 7 The righteous person cares for the legal rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such knowledge.
Proverbs 28: 27 The one who gives to the poor will not lack, but whoever hides his eyes will receive many curses.
Proverbs 19: 17 The one who is gracious to the poor lends to the Lord, and the Lord will repay him for his good deed.
Proverbs 31: 8-9 Open your mouth on behalf of those unable to speak, for the legal rights of all the dying. Open your mouth, judge in righteousness, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Proverbs 21: 13 The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and will not be ashamed.
Proverbs 22: 9 A generous person will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.
Proverbs 22: 22 Do not exploit a poor person because he is poor and do not crush the needy in court.
Proverbs 41: 1 How happy is the one who treats the poor properly.
Psalm 112: 9 He (the righteous) generously gives to the needy; his integrity endures. He will be vindicated and honored.
Romans 15: 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
God is interested in the poor.
Proverbs 22: 2 The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Creator of them both.
Jeremiah 5: 28 --and they do not defend the rights of the poor.
Jesus is interested in the poor.
John 12: 5 "Why wasn't this oil sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?"
John 13: 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him to buy whatever they needed for the feast, or to give something to the poor.
2 Corinthians 8: 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Paul was interested in the poor.
Galatians 2: 10 They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.
James was interested in the poor.
James 2: 5-10 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to? But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
James 2: 15-17 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be wormed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
John agrees with James regarding man's heart about the poor.
1 John 3: 17-18 But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.