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From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Dear Rev. Graham: What is the difference between physical poverty and spiritual poverty? – P.S.

Dear P.S.: Man’s spiritual poverty is even more wretched than his physical poverty. His failure to do what he ought to do and be what he ought to be proves that there is something inherently wrong with him. The Bible puts it this way: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV).

All immorality, greed, selfishness, prejudice, suffering, and hatred (to name a few) stem from one source: the human heart. Nothing in the universe has fallen lower, and yet by the grace of God, nothing can rise higher. Physical poverty, of course, is more visible and apparent to us. We are touched by pictures of those who are starving or who live in rat-infested slums or on the street – and we should be troubled. But spiritual poverty is much more difficult to see because we only see it as we look at the world through the “spectacles” of God’s Word.

When our vision begins to change, things in front of us can blur; or if we were to look across a valley, for example, we might not be able to distinguish a tree from a person. But when we put glasses on, things come into view. In the same way, the spiritual poverty of the world is not clear – or even evident to us – until we begin to look at it in the light of God’s Word, the Bible. But when we begin to understand God’s Word, we realize that the world is lost and apart from Christ. Those who belong to Him should be pointing others to the light of the Savior of the world.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12, NKJV).

(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)