You hear the poor calling out to you from the sidewalks when they ask for spare change, but are you really listening? Do their needs and feelings really matter to you? I'm from a small town which makes it difficult to care about this sort of thing because it doesn't happen very close to home. Even for people who come in contact with the poor asking for their help find themselves unwilling to give. If you see pan handlers every day, you start justifying your decision not to give. You might say something like: "He put himself in this situation!" or, "If I give her this money, she will just go score drugs with it." If this line of reasoning isn't enough, selfishness is always a good excuse not to give. We may even say something like "I can't give this man any money! I have to buy myself lunch today!"
Sometimes we don't offer our spare nickels and dimes because we think we are doing it for the greater good. For example, we don't give because we assume that a homeless person has a drug problem will spend the money on alcohol or drugs. Is this an excuse to not give? How do we know if every single homeless person has a problem with drugs or alcohol? I'm inclined to believe that this is just a poor excuse for us to keep our money in our pockets. What if a guy or gal was simply just down on their luck and needed our helping hand to get them back on their feet? Acts of kindness and giving mean so much more than the gift. They can restore someone's faith in humanity.
When I'm giving a gift, I don't want to give my gift with restriction. I want to lend with the same freedom that God gives to every human being to choose between what is right and wrong. After all, what I give is a gift. It belongs to the person I'm giving it to not me. It is up to the recipient to decide what to do with what I put in their hands.
I could see the dilemma if we started giving an alcoholic whiskey; or, if we offered heroine to a user. But when we give what is asked of us, we are not putting the bottle in someone's hand or helping them find their next score. We are giving each asking person a new opportunity. We don't take responsibility for what happens after we render what is asked of us. If a homeless person would choose whiskey over food for the day, that's his own choice, but at least we did our part to help!
Sometimes we can't always give money. In this sort of situation, we can give our time which is the best option in my opinion. I went to the
National Youth Worker's Convention in Cincinnati a few months ago. I was there with a group of youth workers from my church and we were walking down the streets of the city. We made plans to go get some ice cream and just hang out in the ice cream shop. We wanted to talk about experiences and ideas we had on the trip that we could bring back to the church with us. Suddenly, we noticed that our friend Jarius had left us.Jarius is a guy who is kind of big and intimidating with a manly beard. He's not very articulate. On top of that, he's smelly and messy. In fact, he could pass off as a homeless man in Cincinnati . Regardless of his unkempt ways, he's got one of the biggest hearts in the world.
After a very short time of searching for Jarius, we found him sitting with a homeless man down the street. The two of them were just talking. It was very sweet. He called over to us, saying that he would catch up to us later. For 15 months prior to our trip to Cincinnati, he'd been unemployed. Jarius didn't really have any money to offer this man. But Jarius gave the more precious gift of his time and the man was very grateful. Jarius caught up with us at the ice cream shop and with money that his mom gave him for doing chores, he got the man some ice cream. At the time, Jarius didn't know that the man was diabetic. But the man shared his ice cream with another homeless person and they were so happy and thankful. Jarius' gift paid off.
When I go to Chicago or Cincinnati, I am normally "too busy" to sit and talk with homeless people. But Jarius taught me a lesson. He cut out his time to spend it with a homeless man just to say, "Hey! What's up?"
I'm trying to think more like Jarius did that day back in Cincinnati. I'm trying to be more sacrificial with my time, my money, and my belongings. After all, none of it really matters. Most things are here today, gone tomorrow. And I can't take any of it to heaven with me anyway...
What do you think you have to give to someone in need? Are you willing to give it up if you had the chance? What other ways can you challenge yourself to give? If you looked at every poor person as one of the least of God's people or as God Himself, would you give a little bit more next time?
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Comments (9)
I think the poor requires dignity, a voice, some choice, spare change and basic resources.
Have you ever read the book "Under the overpass"? It's about a young Christian guy who pauses his college career to live homeless for 5 months in 5 different cities. It is truly an eye-opening book. It gives insight to how the "Church" should always be the first to open their arms to the homeless, hungry, and poor. Yet sadly, many people who claim Christ shun these people.
You wrote "Sometimes we don't offer our spare nickels and dimes because we think
we are doing it for the greater good. For example, we don't give
because we assume that a homeless person has a drug problem will spend
the money on alcohol or drugs. Is this an excuse to not give? How do we
know if every single homeless person has a problem with drugs or
alcohol? I'm inclined to believe that this is just a poor excuse for us
to keep our money in our pockets. What if a guy or gal was simply just
down on their luck and needed our helping hand to get them back on
their feet? Acts of kindness and giving mean so much more than the
gift. They can restore someone's faith in humanity."
I believe we don't always know when someone is going to chose to abuse our money and spend it on illegal drugs or alcohol. At times this is why I choose not to give because when that money goes from my hand to someone elses' and I'm unsure what I'm contributing to I believe I can be held accountable. I agree that acts of kindness mean a lot and can go far. So, if someone else might be worried that a homeless person will buy drugs and/or alcohol with their money then don't give them money. If a homeless person is really THAT hungry or desperate for money to buy food for themselves, then they wouldn't mind if I offered them food in place of money. Most homeless will gladly take food in place of change or money. This way you know your money actually went towards something worthwhile for this particular homeless person. And you can have a clean conscious.
Luke 14
18The Spirit of the Lord is uponme,because he hath anointedme to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sentme to heal the brokenhearted , to preachdeliverance to the captives,and recovering of sight to the blind, to setatliberty them that are bruised ,
The primary thing is the Gospel as there eternal soul in Hell is going to compare nothing to the worst suffering in this life!
Salvation should be our primary focus
Other needs next!Romans 15:26 KJVFor it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.Luke 12:32 KJV
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom
I believe helping the poor out in every way even thou I myself am limited, I wish I could do more.
Dom
I drive a semi-truck and often keep it stocked with canned soup, fruit, water, sodas and snacks, so I don't have to pay truck stop prices for food. Often when I come to a stoplight in a city and someone's begging I'll give them some water and maybe a sandwich or a can of soup and a spoon and a piece of fruit. I once heard that the homeless are always thirsty, so I at least try to give them a bottle or two of water or soda to drink. If I'm in the city with the family, sometimes I'll take them into a McDonalds and get them a meal, and sometimes I'll just tell them I'm sorry I can't help them. Even Jesus couldn't help everyone.
I feel like what I give them is my responsibility and what they do with it is theirs, so I don't feel bad if I do give them money, but since my stock of money is limited, I try to give them what I think will help them most as opposed to what they ask for, thus the gifts of food most of the time as opposed to money.
The only time God ever just gave something to man was the Garden of Eden, that wasn't appreciated. When God destroyed the earth he saved Noah. He could have just held back the water around Noah's house but, instead, he required Noah to earn being saved. Noah was required to build an arc to save his family and the animals. When the hebrews were held slaves by the egyptians, God could well have killed the pharoah or just changed his heart in regards to slavery. But He made Moses and the hebrews earn their freedom, they had to suffer through the plagues with the egyptians. When they were free, they expected to recieve their "promised land" but even that had to be earned. They wandered through the desert for 40 years before they were led to their new home. Even when Jesus died on the cross for us, we are required to show some responsibility for being saved, we have to accept Him and what He did for us.
The point of all of this is that we aren't helping these people by just giving them food and/or money. They need to earn it, they will not respect or appreciate it if they don't. Give them a job to do and make your assistance contingent on their doing the job. God requires responsibility, so should we.
@dcbarton@xanga - I disagree wholeheartedly. I'm not here to start an argument, but I think that we need to be as graceful as God. Grace is something God freely gives to us, and there is nothing we can do to earn it. In my opinion, if someone really wanted to help these people, they would help them get off of their feet. Sometimes, they just can't start themselves... and that is completely understandable in a culture where there is a cycle of poverty. It is none of my business if a homeless man doesn't respect my giving... it's a gift. He can do whatever he wants with it.
My point is, give... because people are responsible for themselves... let them make their own choices... but that should never stop us from giving gracefully.
@dcbarton@xanga - you are right, in as far as the able bodied and able minded go. Many homeless and near homeless/street people suffer from mental illness, alcoholism, often they are poorly educated, have limited or no resources to help themselves with. I am all for a person pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps, but many don't even have boots. Many truly are looking for a hand up, not a hand out.
jmallory.xanga - when you give "freely" you often do as much harm as good. When the troops arrived in Auschwitz, Dachau, and many of the other concentration camps in Germany (WWII), they found dying and emaciated prisoners, in unbelievable condition. In their rush to "help", they gave these people food, which wound up killing them. Their systems were unable to handle food; they needed broth, liquids, then after a few days, soft foods, etc until their systems could accomodate real solid food again. In their quest to "rescue" the dying, they killed many of them.
There is an old proverb, Chinese I think, that says "If you give a man a fish, he will soon be hungry. If you teach a man to fish, he need never be hungry." There is a lot of truth in that.
Jesus told us the poor would be with us always. If you put 10 people on an island and gave them each $100, and came back in a few months, someone will have more than $100, some will have less or none. It is human nature. When Jesus healed the blind beggar, he didn't sit with the guy, and promise him free food and money the rest of his life because of his years of disfortune; He told him, "Get up, pick up your mat and go..." He told him to quit begging, get off his butt and make his way like everyone else did.
We have far too many able bodied people in this country who are lazy and want a free ride, and our socialistic society sets them up for it. As a former Corrections Officer, I have seen multi-generations of the same families incarcerated, sometimes more of the family on the inside than outside. And most, if not all, were on some sort of assistance, could't or wouldn't hold a job, had no money management skills, very limited education, and a hateful attitude toward the government which gave them their monthly checks. And almost all used or abused alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
I am all for helping the downtrodden when they are truly trying to better themselves and improve their lives. I am not at all for enabling those who wish to continue in non-productive or anti-social behaviors that inevitably become a burden on the rest of us taxpayers.
@jmallory@xanga - Alcoholism and drug addictions are no excuse, they are not diseases, they are weakness of character, the only real cure is to strengthen your character. As a former drunk I am somewhat of an expert on this subject. As far as limited education and resources, these will make it more difficult but not impossible. Every town now has companies that specialize in day labor, you sign up, they send you to a job(someone will always have a car and give rides to the people that don't), and you get paid at the end of each day. It doesn't pay much but will pay enough to buy food with money left over. By the end of the first week you can have enough money saved to get off the street and into a cheap motel, by the end of the month you can be living in a cheap apartment. And you earned it which will help build self-esteem and character.
How many times have you seen these people holding signs on the corner that say "Will work for food"? Have you ever offered them a job? They will turn it down everytime. They don't want a better life, they just want a handout. You aren't helping them by giving them handouts, you help them by teaching them how to lift themselves out of the gutter. If they don't want to do that, you can't help them.
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