If you want to maintain the current comfort level of your life, don’t read the book I am about to name. If you want to be able to continue to honestly say, “I never knew”, don’t visit the web sites I list. If you want to hang on to your “toys”, baubles, and bling, don’t consider the passages I will reference. If you do not want to be bothered by nagging thoughts of harsh world realities that could be lessened or alleviated by our action, don’t finish reading this article. I would tell you to navigate away now, but if you do not read the next paragraph, you will not know what to avoid, and you may stumble upon them unwittingly.

If you want to happily grasp your status quo, don’t read The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns (Thomas Nelson, 2009, 2010). If you want to keep on living as you are today, don’t go to Hunger and Poverty Facts - Bread for the World. To maintain your defense of ignorance, stay away from World Food Programme - Hunger - Frequently Asked Questions and World Food Programme - Hunger Stats. Okay; now I have warned you. Flee now, or you may be changed forever.

It is too late, for me. I have read the book. Rich has reminded me that Jesus told us the only command greater than loving our neighbor as ourselves was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:32-40.) The parable of the Good Samaritan clearly says the one in need is my neighbor (Luke 10:25-37.) He has effectively shown me that Jesus walked this globe caring for people’s physical and emotional needs along with their spiritual welfare. He has echoed James’s declaration that faith that bids a needy person to be warmed and filled without giving substantially to relieve the pangs is an empty, false faith (James 2:14-17.) He has urged me not to fail to do anything, because I cannot do everything. I must do the something that I can.

So, what is the need? I read at the U.N.’s World Food Programme site that 10.9 million kids under five die each year, and that sixty percent of these deaths are due to malnutrition and hunger-related diseases. I do the math:

17,918 CHILDREN are dying daily because they are not receiving nourishment adequate to keep their souls and bodies together. I read that there is enough food in the world for every human being to have what is needed for life. Rich tells me that the problem is that the distribution is not evenly spread around the world. Some of us have way more than we need, while many more of our fellows have far less than they need to survive. Some of these human beings dying are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I remember that the Apostle Paul, who took a collection for the needy Christians back in Palestine, explained to the Corinthians that the idea was not to deprive one group for the other, but to use the excess of one, at a given time, to meet the pressing need of the other. It could go the opposite direction a different time, if circumstances flip-flopped. The idea was equality – everyone having their needs met. (2 Corinthians 8:13-15)  The Lord’s admonition is “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38, New International Version) I hear Him answering the goats, in the judgment, that any time they did not give essentials for life to the least around them, they did not do it for Him. Conversely, He explained to the sheep that any time they met the needs of the least of His brothers (food, drink, hospitality, clothing, nursing, visitation) they did so for Him. (Matthew 25:31-46)

Just one more thing, before I tell you what I am doing: Many of us are inclined to think: “Being a philanthropist is fine for someone that is loaded, like Bill and Melinda Gates, or the Rockefellers, or Donald Trump. But I am not rich, like them.” Whatever you do, do not check out the “Global Rich List”. I did. I entered my gross income from last year, and I learned that I'mthe59,296,428thrichest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>I am in the top 0.98% richest people in the world. Mind you, I do not think of myself as wealthy, but I have so much more than almost everyone else on our sphere. I do not wonder whether I will eat on any given day.

It is not my intent or desire to make anyone feel guilty. Rather, I hope to motivate others, as I have been, myself, to ask God what we can do to make a difference for our fellow human beings. For that reason, I share what I am doing. I am purchasing two meal packs a month. They are specially formulated to mix with water to produce a gruel-like substance that can be digested by severely malnourished people (children and adults) who have been without food for so long that they can no longer process regular meals. Each meal pack provides thirty-five of these meals. They are being distributed to people at risk of dying in multiple countries by AmeriCares, a well-known charitable organization. I have put these horrible facts of humans starving to death on the windows of my car.

I have established a web site (thatMOREmayLIVE.com) to engage others in this crisis and the building of a grass roots movement to address it. I have joined a team of Christ followers, the Proverbs 1917 Network Goodness Project, which is dedicated to having a significant impact, in our lifetimes, on the crisis of starvation around the world. I continue to sponsor children, in Zimbabwe, Albania, and El Salvador, through World Vision, so that they will grow healthfully into adults that can contribute to their families, communities, and nations. I keep on praying that God would use me to raise a “legion of lenders.” Proverbs 19:17 says, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.” (NIV) So, by “lenders” I mean Christians that will commit their lives to bettering the welfare of the poor. What is a legion? –noun 1. a division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 soldiers. [legion. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/legion(accessed: July 26, 2010).] That’s what I’m talking about: no less than three to six thousand believers actively working to relieve the suffering and death due to starvation in our world!

Now it is your turn. I am not going to tell you what to do. I will leave that to the Holy Spirit. He is much more effective in speaking your language and convincing you of the direction to move than I could possibly be. I will not hide from you that I have been praying that He would use this article, and the information shared through these multiple and varied means, to move you and to stimulate you to compassionate action. I will continue to pray thusly, and, as I do, I will sometimes think again of how the Lord says that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35.)