Sometimes it seems like we’re all looking for a good reason to do less good.

“You can’t save everybody.”

“How do I know it’s not a scam?”

“I just gave to Haiti!”

“I’m a poor college student.”

And my favorite “Jesus said we’ll always have poor people.”

Jesus did say this. Sort of. So we deduce that A)it’s futile and silly to try to help poor people B)Jesus obviously didn’t care that there were poor people or C)there are more important things Christians should be doing with their time and money than helping poor people.

Jesus was actually quoting Deuteronomy 15:11:

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

This is reason to care for the poor not excuse not to. You’ll always have the opportunity to share because you’ll always be running into people who need your leftovers.

I’m headed to Kenya this morning with a bunch of bloggers. I’ll start posting from there on March 4th and stop around March 10th. You can follow our group over at CompassionBloggers.com/Kenya and on Twitter.

And, yes, I’ll be asking you to give. What an opportunity.

I know many of you already sponsor children through Compassion International or other organizations. You’ve given to the Red Cross in recent days. You watched Help Haiti Live, clicked that Give Now banner and placed a bid. Then Chile happened. And now Kenya? Another opportunity, folks.

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor.

At the very least, please give prayer. We’ll need it as we walk through the slums of Nairobi, play with the beautiful children there, miss our own back home, and do all we can to release as many children as we can from poverty.