Christian Living

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THE TESTIMONY OF THE POOR
(Article by ISAAC K. LIKUJI, MONDAY September 28, 2009)

‘Each day that the poor live is a testimony against the rich!’ I just thought about that and felt something terrible run through my mind. Who are the rich, and who are the poor? In which way is the life of the poor a matter of concern to the rich? I was going through Scripture the other day, when I ran into the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the reference fellow. These guys had been fond neighbors, though may be not in the actual sense of the word ‘fondness’. I can only imagine what might have been going on in the poor man’s mind, all those long unbearable years!
It is all about discovery. Somehow, when I came to accept that this is the kind of world we live in, and I had made a resolve within me to endure the pain and suffering as an order of the day, I discovered that I saved myself from more than just a natural concern. I had in itself placed myself in a position to ponder on the mysteries of life, to see the evils of this world, and how, by GOD’s infinite wisdom, the weak and poor survive through the most unthinkable trails of reality. The best we see of a suffering man today is when the selective media shows us just about enough of it. The real touch of the scourge is far from many a man’s eye, hidden in the darkness of hopelessness and despair.
I imagine Lazarus, growing up as a little boy in some village. His father too poor to send him to Kindergarten, his mother just as helpless! As the years go by, he learns one or two survival skills, maybe some broom-making or another. He tries hard to hold on to dear hope. With the cream of life still going on in the backyard, he perseveres, and endures the torturous days that now almost dictate who and what he is. He once had the compassion to care and support his little brothers and the like. But opportunity swindles him out of favor. Soon, he feels his strength giving way to age. He has missed an opportunity to be a breadwinner, a family man! But the stomach is forever empty. So while the hope dims on into nothingness, he hires himself out, as though selling himself to an equivalent of under a cent a day.
This rich man surely knows! This rich man surely understands! This rich man, surely, sees! Lazarus is ever by his rubbish heap. He has sunk that deep into rejection. He has crossed over to the negative of the axis of life. With a zero now permanently set between him and the desire to be self-sustainable and be a contributor to the development of his community. And finally, his course is made clear before him. But he does not give up on life!
He once heard that there is a GOD in heaven. HE saves the poor man from the ash heap, and makes them sit on thrones with kings! Lazarus knows truly well that this is just all about what he can expend himself to acquire. His natural mind, or the devil in the skin, may have tempted him now and then, to focus on the kingship of this perishing world. But the spirit within him and the SPIRIT in him gave a different assurance: Whatever is seen, Lazarus, is temporal. Set your eyes on things above! I imagine Lazarus, now fifty. But because of his immense suffering he looks eighty. At his seventy-seventh birthday, still homeless, childless, hopeless_ except his undying hope in a kingship on the other side_ this now soon-departing walker of the soils of earth still seems to have unfinished business within him. He is voiceless so he can’t speak. But what he can he does maybe just one more time: pick a crumb from the big guy’s messy heap.
But all these years, the mind of this man is blinded, lest he may see the message of the CROSS of JESUS, that all those nails, the blood-sucking stripes, were a means of instituting equality and fairness. That there may be no poor among us, that those who gather much should not gather just too much; and those with little not just too little! All these years, by his presence on the dunghill, Lazarus preached to the rich man. But he was too busy to listen, just a little too busy each day, to consider the plight of the poor. Besides, his budget never seemed to satisfy his….selfish ….desires.
Well, I pick up the story some seconds, barely seconds after these two earthly cousins cross over to the other side! What a surprise shift! Of all things, how does Lazarus’ little finger scoop enough water to quench a burning man’s thirst!
We have very little time dear friend, to try and make a difference in someone’s life. They may look just as ordinary, but their presence is a very important feature in the sight of GOD. They may beg out of distress; they may dishonor their dignity just to fall by your feet for alms. Whatever you do to them, never forget: EACH DAY THAT THE POOR LIVE IS A TESTIMONY AGAINST THE RICH. And riches may not be what you intend to acquire, but who you are and what you have, now!

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