Robert McCartney

Robert McCartney

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Working Poor

One of the most common misconceptions is the assumption that if someone is hungry, that means they do not have a job and are living on the streets. What most people don’t understand is that anyone can experience hunger. It is a silent epidemic that affects more than 49 million Americans.

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2008, 19 million people lived in working-poor families. This translates into nearly 9 percent of all American families living below 100 percent of poverty have at least one family member working. i In fact, 36 percent of client households served by the Feeding America network have one or more adults working. ii
Working Poor Facts

• Female-headed households were more than twice as likely to be among the working poor than male-headed households in 2008. iii
• Married-couple families with children under 18 were almost 5 times as likely as families without children to be among the working poor in 2008. iii
• Among families with at least one member working at least half a year, families with children were 4 times more likely than families without children to live in poverty in 2008.iii
• According to a survey on hunger and homelessness conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors, 92% of cities participating in the survey cited unemployment as one of three major causes of hunger in their city. iv
• Thirty-nine percent of all adult clients served by Feeding America have completed high school or equivalent degree with no further education beyond high school. ii
  
• Thirty-four percent of all client households served by Feeding America have had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.ii
  
  
• Sixty-five percent of working families that received SNAP were single-parent families. v

i U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2009 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (POV 10).

ii Rhoda Cohen, J., Mabli, F., Potter, Z., Zhao.Hunger In America 2010. Feeding America. February 2010.
iii U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A Profile of the Working Poor, 2007.

iv The U.S. Conference of Mayors,  2008  Hunger and Homelessness Survey. December 2008.

v Urban Institute, Sheila R. Zedlewski, E. Mon. Many Low-income Working Families Turn To The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program For Help. August 2009.

vi Urban Institute, Gregory Acs, P. Loprest. Who Are Low-Income Working Families?

Related articles

• Hunger in America 2010 (ageinginamerica.com)

Luke 4:39

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Luke 4:39

(39) So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.
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When Jesus went into the room where the elderly lady lay, Luke writes, "He stood over her and rebuked her fever," another detail Matthew and Mark omit. Was he addressing some hostile power? On another occasion, He rebuked the raging wind and water to end a storm on the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:24). "Rebuked" in this verse is the same word used in Luke 4:35 and Mark 1:25, where Jesus "rebuked" the demon during the exorcism in the synagogue. The word means "to censure or admonish." When Jesus rebuked something, evil was present, and His example instructs us that evil must be condemned if real healing is to occur.

There are times when the solutions to our problems may require rebuke or strong admonition. No one enjoys being on the receiving end of a rebuke, yet if sin has caused the problem, it must be rebuked before repentance can happen. In a larger sense, the world desires peace, but few are willing to punish evil. The attitude toward evil today is not that of condemnation but of toleration.

Even so, not all sickness is caused by sin (John 11:4). At times, God permits sickness to provide an opportunity to bring glory to Himself and His Son.

patterns of the Flesh

James 1:13-15

(13) Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. (14) But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. (15) Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
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This pattern of producing sin began in the Garden of Eden when Satan tempted Adam and Eve by stimulating their desire for the forbidden fruit. From that small beginning, sin entered and blossomed. It is easily seen that every problem produced by immorality, whether individual or national, is caused by allowing temptation to develop into sin. Sin is illicit desire brought to fruition, and everybody from peasant to king is subject to wrong desires.
From the beginning of time, it seems to have been a human instinct to blame others for our sins, just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden. James sternly rebukes that view. God does not cause sin and neither do things. Sin would be helpless if there were nothing in man to which it could appeal. Sin’s appeal is to human nature’s self-centeredness, which then builds through our desires. If a man desires long enough and intensely enough, the consequence—action—is inevitable.
It is because we desire our own way that we dishonor our parents and murder; because we desire a thing, we steal; because we desire being well thought of, we lie. Illicit desire can be nourished, stifled, or by the grace of God, eliminated. If one gives himself to Christ by submitting entirely to God, there is little or no time or place left for evil desire.
The tenth commandment pierces through surface Christianity, truly revealing whether a person has surrendered his will to God or not. The spiritual requirements for keeping this commandment are in some ways more rigid than any other because they pierce right through to the thoughts.

John W. Ritenbaugh
From  The Tenth Commandment


Related Topics:
Blaming Others
Covetousness
Desire, Inordinate
Evil Desire
Illicit Desires
Satan as the Tempter
Self-Centeredness
Tenth Commandment
The Tenth Commandment

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