Prov 14:31

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God."(NIV)

"You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you're kind to the poor, you honor God." (The Message)

What do we do with this scripture? It leaves very little grey area for mis-interpreting or looking for any shades of meaning. Yes, the first thing someone will ask is, "Yes, but are the people truly poor? Why are they poor? Was it something they did? Are they taking responsibility for their lives?"

While there is a place and time for some of these questions, this verse is not it. It's a statement without caveats. Oppressing the poor shows contempt for God-period. Being kind to the poor honors God-period. We don't see the exceptions of only the poor who are poor from no fault of their own, or only those who are truly needy, or those who spend too much on cigarettes or beer. There are other places in the bible that talk about slothfulness, drunkenness and other faults of the poor.

This is one of those places in the bible where we see God's macro view. It is reminiscent of another verse in the bible.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

The similarity between these two verses is this-whoever. Jesus died for the sins of all people-no matter how much they sinned-he died so they had a chance to have eternal life.

When we look at Proverbs 14:31 in comparison-that same feeling is there. God hates the oppression of the poor-even if their poverty is their fault, even if they have a lifestyle that contributes to their poverty-it doesn't matter. Oppressing the poor and needy still is contemptuous to God.

The hard question is, what do we do with this in applying it to life and business?

First off, lets remind ourselves what it means to oppress:

Oppress: to burden with cruel or unjust impositions or restraints; subject to a burdensome or harsh exercise of authority or power: a people oppressed by totalitarianism.

What strikes me about this definition is "Cruel or unjust impositions". Do we make it harder or easier for the poor to escape poverty? Is the level of profit that is taken in businesses that market to low income customers reasonable, or does it prey on the fact that it knows that desperate people will pay exorbitant fees because they have no other options?

At the heart of the matter is an age old question -"How do we treat those who have no power or influence over us?" For some reason, God sees that as the measure of our true feelings toward him.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

He doesn't care how much we give, or how often we go to church. Real religion, real devotion to him takes a much more concrete form.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27