Wiser and Happier: Devotions From Time of GraceSample

Personal Integrity: Use power carefully

Don’t you hate getting jerked around by small-minded government officials who seem to enjoy making you jump through hoops? Don’t you hate getting “put in your place” when people in power make you feel like an outsider?

It might surprise you to realize that people farther down the food chain may have had the same experience as you! It is not only the super-rich who can take advantage of the poor. Plenty of middle-class and even working-class people have opportunities to take advantage of those in society who are most vulnerable.

The lowest in society have a special protector in God. Remember that. “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God” (Proverbs 14:31).

That doesn’t mean that you have to fork over $5 to every panhandler you meet on the street. It does encourage us not to take advantage of people with less financial, social, and political power.