Covenant College’s Chalmers Center for Economic Development addresses the complex issues of poverty and how churches and local communities can best meet the needs of the poor. They have an interesting definition of poverty. For the Chalmers Institute, poverty is “lack of access”. The poor, Chalmers says, don’t know who to call when they need something. If they call, no one will call back. They have no way of engaging the centers of power to get what they or their families need. Everything from healthcare to education or whatever each of us would need to be successful in life is simply beyond our reach.
When you think about it, their definition of poverty makes a lot of sense. Take my own life as an example. If I’m sick, I call my doctor. If I need money, I call my banker. Both of these people know me and will take appropriate action on my behalf. But what if I can’t afford a doctor for annual check-ups and routine visits? What if my doctor doesn’t know me? Does my doctor still call me back? Probably not.
What if I don’t have a bank account? What if I was like the millions of people who are unbanked? What if I live my life week to week, spending money to support myself? When my car breaks down, can I get a loan from the bank or do I have to line up at one of the ATMs that charge gangster interest rates for a payday loan? Is the banker coming back with me?
Probably not. This is one of the reasons poverty is so difficult to overcome. The poor cannot open the doors that allow them to get out of their situation. They don’t have access to it.
This is one of the reasons the heart of the gospel is about access. In Christ we have access to God. We, the spiritually impoverished, can open the door to God’s throne room, and He will receive us. There we have access to everything we need to improve our lives – healing, forgiveness, meaning, hope, courage – anything and everything.
Think about it. If you call, Jesus will answer. If we knock, He will open the door. If we call on Him, He will come to us. He will welcome us. It will give us access to the most precious gift in the universe: all the attention of God.
When my sons were little – well, let me be honest – even now my sons can still reach me. When they were younger, they were told they could always reach me. Nothing I did or anyone I spoke to was more important than them. They could interrupt any meeting I was at and walk into my office without knocking. If they called, I would take their call no matter what I was doing at the time. They attended Finance Committee meetings, marriage counseling sessions and all kinds of staff meetings. When they got what they came for and left, I would smile and explain to the people in my office, “My sons are more important than you. They always get my full attention.
Now to be sure I got a lot of phone calls about how to unlock a video game, and could we play baseball on the way home from work. When my friends asked me about my “always available” policy for my sons, I would tell them, “The problem is, I never know when their call will be“ that ”call. I never know when it’s going to be something serious, something that needs my full attention. And yes, as a father of twins, I have received these calls.
Jesus told us that if we know, in our limited ways, how to be good fathers, then how does our Heavenly Father better know how to be a good father? And good fathers are always available for their children.
This story happened the other day when a friend I was talking to told me that this time, he thought, he had just strayed too far from God. This time, Jesus wouldn’t want him to come back. This time, after being forgiven for all the other times, my friend thought it was too much to ask.
I told him how much I loved my sons, and I had no idea what they could do to shut the door in my face. I told him the story of the prodigal son and how salvation came to the young man when he realized that if he went home, his father would let him in. This is exactly the kind of father that God is.
We live in a world that believes it is impoverished. They think they have nothing of value. They think no one will listen. The good news is and always has been that when Jesus returned to the Father, he left the door open behind him.
If we knock, He will open the door. We have access, and we are rich beyond comprehension.
