The humane thing

The Humane thing
“ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  
Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.” 
                                                             Leviticus 19: 9,10.
From the earliest of days God wanted man to watch out and help his fellow man. We are called to love our fellow man that means if necessary helping him out. The quotation from the Old Testament shows one way God provided for the poor.
In the New Testament James writes,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  
If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”  
                                             James 2:14-18
The Talmud tells this story,
“Rabbi Akiba was asked by a Roman general, “Why does your God who loves the needy not provide for their support Himself?”  He answered, “God the Father of both the rich and poor, wants the one to help the other so as to make the world a household of love.”
                                                                                                              The Talmud
The above statements I believe are truths both secular and religious people can agree with.
There is a need to help the poor.
I have heard both political leaders and religious leaders alike over the years say “work hard and you’ll get ahead.”
Sadly I know many people who have worked hard. Not only men and women who have one two even three jobs and still find it hard to make ends meet. But those who have had successful careers only to have something happen and cause them to end up in hard times.
The simple fact of the matter is, sometimes for whatever reason no matter how hard you work things don’t work out. It has nothing to do with how hard you work.
We as human beings need to be thinking about our fellow man and how we can help them, be they in a foreign land or in the city where we live.
We need to be calling on our government officials to spend more money on programs to help the individual who have come on hard times.
We need to be calling on private industry pay living wages and governments to raise minimum wages to livable amounts.
We need to be telling them to make real investments of tax payers dollars in health care, education, housing and other areas that directly benefit the individual.
What better way to spend tax dollars than on the people who need it and will benefit from it most.
This I believe is the Christian way to do things. The humane way to deal with our fellow man.
Please think about it.