Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, how should we think about something – SNAP? This is based on an article I read in the Washington Post, and really a story that's been all over the news. You know, as I record this, right now, the federal government is shut down. In fact, now, over 20 days, it has been shut down. And there are many things at risk when the government shuts down. But the one that seems to be getting the most attention is a government program called SNAP. Now, SNAP is an acronym SNAP, and it stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or you might think of it more colloquially as food stamps. It's the federal government's program to make sure that Americans don't go hungry. Now, this is, becoming a political fight because the government shutdown is actually primarily about insurance. There's a disagreement between the Democrats and the Republicans over the federal government's involvement in health insurance and subsidizing certain things. But a byproduct of that is that the SNAP program is being reduced. The Trump administration is arguing that they're not going to pay out all of the benefits. And the reason why that has kicked up a storm is because the Democrats who are causing the shutdown, at least on paper, are big fans of the SNAP program. And it's making both sides reevaluate how committed to the shutdown they really are. It's also causing a, greater national conversation about the SNAP program because it's, in theory, none of us want anyone to go hungry. And we all recognize there are probably people out there who are in need of government assistance. But it might shock you to know that actually, currently 1.1 out of every 8Americans is currently on food stamps. One out of eight Americans, 42 million Americans, currently rely on the SNAP program, and it costs the country $100 billion a year. That's billion with a B, a $100 billion a year. So while the SNAP program is necessary for some, what the Trump administration is asking is maybe it's time to reevaluate a country in which one in eight people are relying on government assistance. And that begs the question, as Christians, how should we think about food stamps, about government assistance, about the SNAP program, and about our own responsibility to help those in need? Well, let me offer some thoughts as you read these articles and think about these things. Let's just start with this. Inescapably, the Bible does tell us to take care of those in need to feed the hungry, even literally. Keep in mind that Jesus In Matthew 25, when he separates the sheep and the goats, those that are not going into his kingdom, the goats and those who are the sheep. One of the primary distinctions is what they did with the hungry. Jesus literally says to the sheep, when I was hungry, you gave me something to eat. Christians can never take a cold and sterile view of those that are hurting. We can never take a full kind of pull yourself up by your bootstraps view that makes everyone have to look out only for themselves. Jesus doesn't allow that. He tells us, in so much as you cared for the least of these, you cared for me. In other words, how we treat the hungry is at some level how we treat Jesus. That's at one end of this conversation. On the other end though, the Bible also makes clear that God's expectation for able bodied adults is that they work. We can go all the way back to Genesis 2 when God creates Adam and Eve and he places them in the paradise of Eden, they are going to work it. In fact, the words in Genesis 2 in the Hebrew are that they are there to cultivate and keep the garden. They're working, they're gardeners. And we fast forward all the way to the New Testament where Paul is saying in 2 Thessalonians 3, if anyone is not willing to work, listen to this, let him not eat. So two ends of this, right? On the one hand, saying, you cannot be cold and uncaring for the hungry. And on the other end, we don't feed people who are lazy. Now how does that guide us forward? Well, probably by heeding the words of isaiah in Isaiah 1:17 to kind of defend the oppressed, to seek justice and mercy. But how do we do that? Well, on the one hand, saying there are some people where willingness to work is not their problem. There are people dealing with physical difficulties, mental difficulties, emotional difficulties, people. There are children for whom obviously they can't provide for themselves. There are elderly people who are not able to work. And for those people, Christians should be above anyone else, championing care. Yes, even government care. Keep in mind that even in the Old Testament, God tells the Israelites to leave the corners of their fields for those in need so that they can do the harvesting. But of course even that is is work. Christians should also be driving the conversation that adults who can work, who are not working are not actually being helped when we allow them and empower them to persist in their purposelessness and their laziness. Work is an important part of what it means to be human, and people will never flourish sitting at home on the couch. And we shouldn't be helping them atrophy by feeding people who are otherwise able, but simply just being lazy. Listen, this kind of nuanced answer is what the Bible's always driving us towards and why I'm always telling you that political tribalism will never actually solve the problems of this country. Because if you think more in a Democrat fashion, what you're hearing is feed, feed, feed, care, care, care it. Don't worry about whether they're working. And if you vote in a Republican fashion, you're being told stop helping lazy people without acknowledging the fact that there are many for whom laziness is not the issue. That's why I don't think of myself as a Democrat or Republican, but a follower of Jesus. Jesus who made people to work. Jesus who said, how you treat the hungry is how you treat him. It probably is time to reevaluate the SNAP program and to try to fix a country where one in eight people depend on the government and and yet at the same time, having that conversation can't come at the cost of the neediest people among us both. And walk and chew gum. I don't have to choose. Neither do you, and neither should America. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!