A Robin Hood Complex and Band-aids Over Cancer

It is not love to give someone clean water yet and fail to proclaim the gospel, "for what does a man profit if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his own soul?" We could do many good things for people, but without telling them they are dead in their transgressions, are perilously close to damnation, and that there is been provided a way out from under the wrath of God by Jesus Christ, we actually would do them a severe disservice. Who cares if their lives are better but their souls shall perish apart from the knowledge of God? To do this would be to place a band-aid over cancer. But clean water is a sign of love that points to the perfect love of God in Christ. Perhaps those who recieve the water (or whatever good work) would look along the sign to what it points to, perhaps they would cling to God and not to their water. We must consider, if ever we give what we have recieved, that all the good we could do is but a sign; for us to cling to the good we do as if it made us something is likened unto the foolish hiker who holds fast to the sign pointing to the summit of Half Dome thinking that the signpost is "really great!" and misses out on the staggering splendor of the Yosemite Valley. What is worse is if we were to gather others to "come see our sign!" How silly! All we do is but a sign pointing to the Majestic God to whom we are but the metaphor. So we must seriously ponder any good we do, and if God grants, any momentum given to this Project.

In addtion to this I feel deep in my heart an affinity for Robin Hood. The Christian story is a story that has as part of its narrative a preferential treatment for the poor. Throughout both the Old and New Covenants God admonishes His people to be mindful of those who are in need. America is an empire of emperors, and kingdom of kings, who to our great shame have hoarded our wealth in vast gilded storehouses and we have not heeded the commission given to the kings of Israel not to multiply gold and horses (see Deuteronomy 17:14-17). Here also we must heed the admonition of Wendell Berry who articulates the nature of a global economy and its damage to the earth, "The name of our present society's connection to the earth is "bad work"... All of us are responsible for bad work, not so much because we do it ourselves (though we all do it) as because we have it done for us by other people... Living as we now do in almost complete dependence on a global economy, we are put inevitably into a position of ignorance and irresponsibility. No one can know the whole globe. We can connect ourselves to the globe as a whole only by means of a global economy that, without knowing the earth, plunders it for us (Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community, pg. 36-37). Is this any way for kings to conduct themselves? Do we as Solomon expand our wealth to our shame? Or can we, in responsible, generous ways reverse the damage our society does to its world? Can we steal from their wealth and contribute to the needs of others, especially our brothers and sisters scattered among the nations? Let us remember Paul's admonition to "let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." In so doing, it is clear, that this will bring great glory to Christ and to His gospel.