057 - Poverty

Wording of this Handout:

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Poverty.

There are several kinds of poverty, if we think of "being poor" in its widest sense. At the bottom would be being just plain broke - no money, no food, no decent house. A little higher up would be the people who have everything, but they receive no love. They can buy whatever they want, but all their friends are there just for what they can get.

Another kind of poverty is the really intelligent person, who has university degrees and a great job, but who feels like life has no meaning. All the success in the world cannot fill that emptiness inside, tat sense of futility.

There is a poverty of friends, of love or purpose, and there is poverty of spiritual fulfillment. Millions of people belong to religions which promise much but deliver nothing. They say prayers, keep the rules, dress in the right clothes, do all the rituals, but in their hearts they do not know God.

This is where Jesus comes in. He makes sense of all the big questions, and he satisfies the spiritual hunger - while at the same time making us thirsty for more of him!

So even the poorest people can actually be blessed with riches beyond their wildest imaginations, and the richest people can discover wealth they never dreamed of. All found in Jesus.

The Bible says "In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
(Colossians 2:3)