We should all embrace our stink!

 When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert is a book about how poverty alleviation can end up harming those we intend to help.  The authors expose the blind spots that the Western church tends to miss when serving the poor.  They also help to outline empowering and effective ways to serve and love the poor domestically and internationally.  Corbett and Fikkert state simply;  “Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do more harm than good.” (61) In other words, we need to deal with our own stinkiness in fellowship with one another in order to serve each other effectively.  This quote by Corbett and Fikkert reminds me of 1 John 1:7-9 which states,  “but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin…. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Our job as believers is to live in fellowship and confess our sins, and Jesus takes care to cleanse us of our stink.

Corbett and Fikkert challenge the reader with this question:  

“What is your motivation to help serve the materially poor?” 

I felt exposed by this question. 

Shouldn't it be good enough that I want to serve the poor in the first place? Throughout the scriptures God commands the church to serve the poor (see Lev 16:9-10, Duet 15:1-18, Matt 24:40, Acts 4:24, James 1:27).  My authentic answer to this question is problematic. Like all of us, I have the tendency to approach service with impure motives. In all honesty, part of me desires to be viewed as a good Christian who is seen as wise and servant hearted.  I enjoy service.  Some of my most joyful memories have been at Chapel with My Brother’s Keeper Emergency Shelter and at Kings Club which is a backyard Bible club at our local lower income apartment complexes. It is holy and joyful work.  However, in the midst of my submission to love the poor, my heart is still stained by the selfish desire to be perceived as holy instead of simply being holy.  This impure desire creeps into my heart, where sin often takes root.

Corbett and Fikkert talk about a common sin that middle class American Christians tend to fall into which is to assume they are more intelligent or wise because they have more money than those experiencing homelessness. I have been guilty of this before. This pride makes it easy to assume that the rich know how to solve the problems of the poor. In many instances, this could not be further from the truth. The authors summarize Jayakumar Christian’s observation of this common problem succinctly, “...The economically rich often have ‘god complexes,’ a subtle and unconscious sense of superiority in which they believe that they have achieved their wealth through their own efforts and that they have been anointed to decide what is best for low-income people, whom they view as inferior to themselves.” (61) This belief is predicated on the idea of the Health and Wealth Gospel which Harvard Divinity says “emphasizes believers’ abilities to transcend poverty and/or illness through devotion and positive confession.”*  Because of the Health and Wealth Gospel, also known as the prosperity gospel, adherents may be prone to believe that their spiritual righteousness has earned them their wealth, and conversely, that the poor have done something wrong to earn their poverty.  Although many Christians would not explicitly claim these beliefs, the heart of the Health and Wealth Gospel has unintentionally seeped into the psyche of the American people. The Health and Wealth Gospel can often unconsciously color our thoughts about and interactions with those struggling with poverty and homelessness. 

The first step is to recognize our mixed motives and then to repent of our disordered thought processes.  Ask God to reveal the places in your life where prejudice and fear have crept in, especially pertaining to the poor and marginalized. Through confession and repentance, our hearts begin to be purified, and genuine humility is able to take root.  We want to mirror Christ as humble servants, not prideful ones.  After our recognition and repentance, we can accept and embrace our mutual stinkiness, i.e. sinfulness.  We are all sinners, the rich and poor alike.  We are all in need of a savior.  Vaguely admitting we are sinful is something we are often comfortable with as Christians, but being specific about the type of sin is strikingly more vulnerable.  Practice confession with a friend or in a small group, especially in preparation for service.  Confession and repentance builds up the body!  And then put your newfound humility to practice by serving the poor regularly in your community.  Naming the stink is a beneficial practice that is edifying for the Church, those she serves, and ourselves.

** “Prosperity Gospel, The.” Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/prosperity-gospel.