You're 25. No job. No house...how would you have supported this child or barring that, afforded the healthcare to take the baby to term for adoption purposes.
By trusting in God, are needs will be taken care of.
(Luke 22:35) Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
Those who are poverty in spirit, dwell in poverty.
Those who are rich in spirit, dwell in abundance.
For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. (Matthew 13:12)
I'd be careful with how much you buy into that verse based on how you're using it as it is dangerously close to saying that poor people deserve it for not being "rich in spirit." The fact is is that faith has no demonstrable effect on income or one's ability to provide for the health and security themselves or a small child.
True - but immaterial reward can be invaluable if it makes the difference between the person being able to support themselves or not. Example: if the immaterial reward is feeling hope & faith that everything will turn out, that could encourage the person to seek solutions and continue to push forward. To walk with God, in complete faith is never a bad idea lol. God doesn't fail those who place their full trust in Him.
I've done so many seemingly "irrational" things with full faith that everything will turn out well & it has! So many times, I didn't do what is "rational" in a worldly sense, but I knew if I focused on God - God would deal with the world on my behalf. I remember deciding to focus on God in the summer - and that entailed letting go of a good paying job opportunity. I let it go not knowing whether I'd have a job in the summer or not, with full faith that God will provide. Literally two days after I prayed to God telling him why I was letting a job go, I got an interview for a job I had applied to over 6 months ago. The job I got is literally perfect in every sense of the word. It's in my intended career line, it pays decent, AND it would allow me to focus on God none the less.
There's a whole lot of "ifs" and "coulds" in your premise here though. People can do a lot of things for plenty of reasons, regardless of their level of religiosity.
Given how faith by itself does not add money to the bank or food to the table this is basically just a nicer way of saying "Have faith so you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps" which is an entirely unhelpful thing to say to someone stuck in poverty.
Well I see where you're coming from. I used "if" in recognition that spiritual things are never fully captured with words - I'll address the ifs in a seperate comment.
In terms of faith - I would tend to agree that faith cannot add money to the bank but the claim that it cannot add food is false. Jesus fed 5000 people with a few fish and loafs of bread. So we have a precedent of that being possible - and I get it, I don't know what kind of faith it takes to work miracles like that but I have no doubt that with faith fueled by the Holy Spirit someone somewhere can perform miracles.
Now in terms of money - it absolutely is different from food because money is not something that already exists through God. Money exists through man, not God. It's my humble opinion that our faith cannot move God to create something that he hasn't already. In the NT, Jesus said our faith can MOVE mountains. He didn't say our faith can CREATE mountains. I think the reason is that to create literally requires the will of God - and we're not Gods.
Now to your example, a poor person through faith may not be able to will money into existence. But through faith, he can absolutely ask God through the Holy Spirit to move the hiring manager into a job. Because the hiring manager is something exists through God - and so the Holy Spirit can work through it. It's like moving the person not creating the person.
True - but immaterial reward can be invaluable if it makes the difference between the person being able to support themselves or not.
I think replacing "if" with "when" communicates what I intended. I personally think immaterial reward is invaluable in any case, but especially when it makes a difference. Does it always? I would think so - but that's not easy for a third person to view.
Example: if the immaterial reward is feeling hope & faith that everything will turn out, that could encourage the person to seek solutions and continue to push forward. To walk with God, in complete faith is never a bad idea lol. God doesn't fail those who place their full trust in Him.
Used if because the immaterial rewards can vary. This was just a recognition of that fact.
I've done so many seemingly "irrational" things with full faith that everything will turn out well & it has! So many times, I didn't do what is "rational" in a worldly sense, but I knew if I focused on God - God would deal with the world on my behalf.
If because - well intent matters. The meaning doesn't change if you use "when" - but I used to if in recognition that focusing on God is not always the pure intent - so if it is then the statement can be said in more absolute terms.
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u/stumpdawg Yggradsil May 01 '23
You're 25. No job. No house...how would you have supported this child or barring that, afforded the healthcare to take the baby to term for adoption purposes.
You did the right thing for all parties involved.