Poverty can be caused by war, drought, lack of opportunities or the economic condition of society. It is not a shame to be poor, but being ashamed of being poor is a shame. When we are ashamed of ourselves, we hamper our efforts to move forward—we can shackle ourselves to poverty.

Many people have experienced the loss of their fortunes at some time in their lives. Rolling up our sleeves and tackling our problems is the only way out of that dilemma. We can do nothing about yesterday, but we have today to be busy about our business. God calls the poor of the world, but it does not say He expects them to stay that way (1 Corinthians 1:26; James 2:5).