The Poor Helping the Poor

I was recently able to watch the Invisible Children 'Go' film during an event at ASU West. In case you haven't seen it, this is a film about some high school students from all over the country who won a contest by raising a ton of money for schools in Africa. Their prize was a trip to Uganda to meet the students and see the schools they had raised the money for. These students came from all different backgrounds - Newport Beach, California, a small town in Georgia, and the innercity are just a few.

As I watched the film, I could see them struggling to contextualize their experiences and figure out what they were supposed to do with everything they were seeing in Uganda, how they could possibly do anything to help. During the time that they were there, each of those students began to realize that there were no differences between them and the people they were meeting. They shared same struggles and joys in life. A Ugandan community leader put it best when she said:

"It's the poor helping the poor."

It's tempting to think that there is a ridiculous amount of difference between us and the people that we are helping. The more we serve, the more we realize that we don't have all the answers or all of the resource we thought we did. We are, indeed, just as poor. Matthew 5 says this:

³"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The good news is that God is incredibly abundant in everything we could ever need. We are indeed, the poor helping the poor, but the wealth of passion and inspiration that God pours into us makes it all worth it and paves the way for great things.

My encouragement to you is to realize that you are poor and to ask God for the abundance of His passion. Where there is God-given passion, there is a way to bless the world with His abundance.