Because of hunger, instability and more those in poverty are trained to focus on the moment. This is dangerous because with that mindset crimes and other immorality can easily be justified. If only the moment counts you can do whatever you want. Jesus tells the people in John 6 that they are seeking food that perishes but they should seek eternal food. They longed for a temporary feeling of a full stomach. Jesus offers an eternity of a full heart.
For the poverty warrior meeting the crisis feels really good. It is something that we can calculate and become very efficient at pulling off. In the crisis this is right and honorable. However, very few are actually in a real crisis situation. They do not need relief. What those in poverty need is for us to walk with them in life with a goal of helping them become self sufficient and then they can care for others.
Imagine you are walking along the river and you see someone who is obviously drowning as they are floating by. You jump in and save them because that is what a warrior does. You perform CPR and any other first aid that is needed. After a relieved breath and a few social media selfies you see someone else drowning. This time you have the first person you rescue film it so that you can have more documented proof of your warrior status. After rescuing this person and again doing all of the appropriate first aid you feel fatigued. That is when you see two more floating by. Before you can even get into the water you glance up river and see more and more bodies floating by.
Of course, you will want to go upriver and fix whatever is causing these folks to fall into the river. But with all of the bodies in the water you do not have time. I will get to that part of being a poverty warrior at a later time, but for now it is enough to know that we do need to address the systems that are causing people to fall into the river.
But on the operations end you can teach those that you have rescued to swim and how to do basic first aid and CPR so that they too can help others in the river. You coach them and encourage them. You observe them and redirect them. Eventually, you are walking with them in the rescuing of people.
At a bigger level those that now know how to swim can begin to think longer term. If we do it correctly they can even begin to take seriously thoughts about eternity. They can hope for more in their lives. By helping them help others you are infusing them with purpose and hope. In addition there will be more hands to build relationship with those that are struggling.
You see this effort takes time. Those that you are working with in poverty have no reason to trust you so you must build trust. Trust can not be forced upon folks. It takes time. But if you take time, you will see a friend more than a project.
