COMMENTARY: Kentucky Man's Donation to the Poor Is a Good Example for Christians to Follow

This week, a Kentucky businessman bought all the merchandise in a closing Kmart store -- and donated it all to charity.

Rankin Paynter -- who runs a jewelry exchange in Winchester, Kentucky -- said he got the idea to buy everything left in the shelves when he was shopping at Kmart two days before it was set to close down.

Painter, 77, paid $200,000 for the merchandise, and even rented a building for storing it. He donated the merchandise to Clark County Community Services in Winchester.

Painter said that he comes from a really poor background; however,  he was able to make a lot of money in his business. He felt it was now time to give to the poor.

Indeed, Painter's generosity is something that all Christians should admire and try to follow, although not necessarily to that degree.

In His teachings, Jesus emphasized that it is an important Christian attribute for the wealthy to help the poor. Unfortunately, most Christians today worship money more than they worship God.

In fact, it is all too common today for Christians to accumulate as much money as they can -- while refusing to give any of it to charity -- because they have become so miserly and obsessed with "the almighty dollar."

Christ said that a Christian who helps his poorer brother, in effect, helps Him. He also said that those who give to the poor will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but those who do not help the poor will be denied entry to Heaven.

Christ makes this assertion very clear in Matthew 19:24 when He says , "Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."