blessed are the poor

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Hosea 10:1-14:9. God tells Hosea that the more money people get, the more they spend on their "pagan altars." Has that changed much today?

I mean, we don't (usually) build actual altars to Baal and Ashtoreth. I'm not gonna say no one does, because you'll find "pagan" books at your local bookstore for those who want to practice old religions. But today we still use our money to worship our modern gods, instead of worshiping the one true God, don't we? If you read the book American Gods by Neil Gaiman, you'll see what some of those gods are. But I doubt you'd have much trouble naming them - greed, lust, pride, envy, gluttony, sloth, wrath... the deadly sins haven't changed much over the last 3,000 years.

So is it better to be poor, if we humans just use our wealth to wander away from God? Well, that's not a simple question, and there isn't a simple answer. In general, the answer to that is yes. It's better for us to live simply, work hard for what we make, and spend it on helping the poor and giving back to God, than it is for us to be born wealthy and very quickly develop the entitled mindset that is never happy or satisfied with anything. One of the many things Jesus meant in the beatitudes was that the poor truly are blessed... because they aren't tempted to spend their wealth on the ridiculous things that the wealthy tend to pursue.

On the other hand, debilitating poverty can be a terrible thing. If people are so poor they can't afford healthy food or time with their families or healthcare when they get sick... being that poor can tempt you to theft, and it can cause you to hate those who aren't as poor as you are. 

But living simply, and not getting caught up in luxury, without falling into debilitating poverty... that's probably the healthiest place for us spiritually.

God, thanks for teaching us where on the spectrum between abject poverty and obscene wealth we should live.