Giving… I have a problem with it sometimes. The hardest thing is not deciding IF…..it is deciding what to give and who to give to.
I don’t consider myself stingy. I do struggle with my flesh and selfishness, yet I don’t think I am completely selfish. I know there is fault within me, and I pray “God, see what is in my heart. Know what is there. Put me to the test. Know what I'm thinking. See if there's anything in my life you don't like. Help me live in the way that is always right. (Ps. 139:24 NIrV)
Having spent quite some time this morning listening to some challenging messages about who Christians are and how they impact the culture they live in, I drove down a nearby street and was twice approached while at a stop light by people asking for money.
The accusing voice came. “so….are you going to give? You have a cross around your neck, may I remind you that Jesus said “Give to every man who asks you.” (Yes, He did say that, in John 6:30 and Rev. 12:10 speaks of the accuser.)
It is a dilemma.
I am thankful for the whole of scripture, and thankful for the teaching of Paul…
“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.” (2Thes. 3:10)
There ARE people who need help.
Yet somehow, if a person can stand on a concrete sidewalk, beside lanes of hot asphalt with hundreds of cars going by, in the heat of a scorching Texas day,
…could they not be doing something besides asking for handouts? Seems to me like they are working awfully hard just to NOT work.
