Aid the Poor By…Spending?

As we enter the new year, we can expand our opportunities to help the poor by reassessing our budgets and spending habits. This article is part 3 in a 3-part series about how we can aid the poor by giving (part 1), investing (part 2) and spending (part 3) our money.

It may seem odd to suggest that spending is a potential way to aid those in poverty. We often associate spending with excessive consumption. Many Christians value frugality so much that we regard spending as vaguely ungodly. This may be true if spending means buying things we don’t need. But it often comes out instead as a desire to buy things cheaply, whether we need them or not. Somehow getting a bargain assuages our misgivings about buying things. But the result may be that we contribute to the pricing pressures that lead manufacturers to pay workers too little to support themselves and their families.

In some cases, spending more for the items we consume may improve the lives of those who make and sell them. In the present global economy, many workers are paid too little to provide for their daily needs. Meanwhile, those who purchase the goods and services they provide could easily afford to pay a higher price for the items. If there were a way for consumers to pay more—and for that increase to go to the workers who need it—spending could actually help aid poor people.

If, in our frugality, we deprive others of their just wages, we should question the “measure” we’re using for others’ work.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)

Over the past few decades, a whole movement has grown in the developed world to seek to pay fair prices for products made in the developing world. “Fair trade” looks to compensate small coffee, cocoa, cotton growers, craft makers, and other small industries, equitably for their work. In addition, some companies are seeking to improve wages and conditions for workers throughout their supply chains.

This year, let’s consider how we can act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8) through more thoughtful giving, investing and spending.

Part 1: How to Give Generously to the Poor This Year
Part 2: Investing in Microfinance, Social Enterprise and Business to Empower the Poor

This article is excerpted from the Theology of Work Project’s Overview on Provision and Wealth, which explores God’s original intentions for us regarding provision and wealth, the consequences of living in a fallen world and how we are to handle wealth as we participate in God’s redemptive plans.