I use to think poverty meant having nothing, but now I know it means not having Jesus.
My idea of poverty has radically transformed. My perspective on mud huts and barefoot children has shifted. I no longer see sadness, or feel angry on behalf of those living in conditions unpreferable to the western world. I don’t see a child playing soccer with a ball made out of trash bags and have sympathy. Poverty according to the worlds standards means very little to me anymore.
I refuse to let a social standard define the way I feel about a human being. I don’t want to let material items subconsciously affect the motive behind my love. I just want to love them where they are, because that’s what Jesus did. Poverty is no longer defined by living underneath the social norm of income, but by living in darkness hidden from the light of truth that Jesus offers.
It’s simple. Poverty doesn’t equal poor. Poverty equals the ignorance of truth, the absence of love, and the bondage of sin.
So to my fellow humans, as a sister and a friend, I will live among you until you know what love looks like. I will fight for you and seek you out because that is what Jesus does for me. I won’t throw money at you or bring you sweets. I won’t build you a house because I simply don’t know how, and I won’t teach you English because I’m not educated enough and you deserve better than what I can offer. But I can offer you one thing worth sharing, and my heart will continue to break every day that you don’t understand the love that never stops running after you. You may be poor in the eyes of the ones who create the poverty line, but once you know my Jesus the truth will awaken and you will see that you are far richer than the richest man on earth.
