Poor Definitions

(Proverbs 13:18 KJV)  Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.

“Poverty” (7389) and “shame” (7036) are two conditions that have almost disappeared from our American culture.  We are worse because of it.

We still talk about poverty but we have redefined it and made the definition a tool to manipulate politically.  Poverty in history has been the lot of the majority.  You and your family were one meal away from starvation most of the time.  If you had a roof over your head it covered one room and had any animals you owned in one corner.  You were rich if you had an extra set of clothes.  You faced the reality of selling your children into slavery to survive.  That was poverty.  It was real.  It may exist today in much of the third world but not in America.

The cause is a lack of being willing to be corrected.  It is a refusal to learn from mistakes because you won’t listen.  That seems a bit harsh but it is the word for today. 

So?  If you are reading this you probably don’t live in the third world.  If you do, you are obviously not one of the poor.  Don’t get distracted by what might put them where they are.  That is another issue.  Make sure that you are listening.  Then, when your hearing is working, you can do something for others.