Our Portion

I read a story in the paper this morning about a Congolese family who came to Utah as refugees last year.  The family of 13 lives in a small apartment and the father works with a salary barely above minimum wage.  The article highlights the difficulties of the refugee family since nearly their whole income has to go to pay for rent and they have very little left to buy the basic necessities of life.  There are apparently over 60,000 refugees who have resettled in Utah, and the lack of low-income housing is a major barrier for them to escape the cycle of poverty that they find themselves in even with aid from various organizations.  The article mentions the good that some organizations, including the Church, do to help refugees like these, but clearly so much more could be done to help if those here who have been given so much by way of material means—and I include myself in this—were all more willing to sacrifice.  This verse from the Doctrine and Covenants gives us a sense I think of how the Lord views the disparity: “But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin” (D&C 49:20).  Certainly we still lie in sin for our unwillingness to give away as freely as we should. 

               I’m impressed by the very direct language of the Doctrine and Covenants as it relates to the duty of those who have means to care for and share with those who don’t.  In the revelation in which the Lord gave His law for the Church, He commanded, “And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them” (D&C 42:30).  As a member of His Church, to live His law we must remember the poor and give to them as we can.  In even more direct language the Lord said, “Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!” (D&C 56:16)  Our very salvation depends on our willingness to share the blessings God has given with those who have not been so fortunate.  The problem of poverty is not that there is not enough among us to share—the Lord has provided plenty on the earth that all of God’s children can be taken care of: “For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment” (D&C 104:15-18).  So the question we must ask ourselves is what our “portion” is that the Lord expects us to impart to others?