From Thanksgiving to Christmas
For reasons obvious and not so obvious if you are in ministry you will get more calls for help of a benevolent sort between Thanksgiving and Christmas than maybe the rest of the year put together. And I have to be honest, I have to work hard to keep the right attitude. But I must work toward that. See…
…Helping people in need is one of the hardest things I do.
I think about not having enough myself, how responsible am I if I give it all away and then I am in need?
Or I think about leaving it to my kids. I want to bless them too and if I give to that person I don’t even know it leaves less for them.
I think about how they live their lives: Why does it seem that everyone to whom I take food or other help to this time of year has a smoking problem? Why does it enter my mind that they are calling multiple people for help and seem sometimes to just be stockpiling?
I judge their spending: Does everyone in need have a cell phone? Look at that car they drive? And, an Xbox, I don’t even have one of those.
I think about how the money could be spent elsewhere, maybe more wisely. After all, it was Jesus who said “the poor you have with you always” (Note, to try to use this verse in conjunction with not helping those in need is wresting it horribly out of context).
Is it just me or are those who I try to help almost always rather ungrateful? “Where are the nine?” Why did that lady we helped 7 times and turned down the 8th time curse us as she stormed out of the building? Why did the family we’ve given thousands of dollars to get mad and seem to forget every bit of that help as they left for another congregation? It might make you think twice about helping the next one.
And, it takes time. Time I don’t seem to have. Time from my “more important work.”
And, they’ve known Christmas was coming for 12 months. Why did they wait till two days before it to reach out to me?
…Helping the needy is one of the most important things I do.
It reminds me of how blessed I am. How embarrassing it is to have to ask someone for help. I would much rather be on the giving side than the getting side of this.
It keeps my heart soft. If I strive to see that person as a person who has real struggles and is hurting, my heart cannot but go out to them.
It keeps me from being greedy. We can all become hoarders and clinch “our hard gotten gain” so tightly that we forget it was all given to us (James 1:17).
It is Christian. As I read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and see what all is said about giving I must not miss chapter 9 and verse 15, “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.” Giving reminds me that all Christian giving is based on one thing - God’s example.
It is ungodly for me to see brethren in need and shut my heart off from them or just pay lip-service to my supposed compassion and not do anything (1 John 3:17). That sort of miserliness led one misguided brother to say that it would be a sin for “one thin dime should not be taken out of the treasury to buy milk for a starving child.” Does anything about that sentence sound Christlike?
Openhearted giving makes us feel better. I often heard dad teach this in his “Kindness” sermon. Kindnesses will come back to us, he’d instruct adding “we don’t need to be as Seneca, giving as with honey on our hands expecting something in return, but kindness will come back to you.” In my leaser moments I forget this but every time I give without overanalyzing it, I simply feel better.
It is good PR for the Kingdom: It does not take a genius to be aware that, largely because of mean-spirited statements, rotten attitudes, and rotten’er living (i.e. hypocrisy) the church in the world today has a big black eye among many unbelievers and/or former believers who jumped ship. It should not be shocking that immediately after the day of Pentecost as Christians shared their goods (Acts 2:45) and demonstrated generous hearts (vs. 46), that the church had favor with all the people (vs. 47). When I become generous with the blessing I’ve been blessed with, all of Christianity looks better to the world.
Helping those in need is a door-opener for evangelism. In Acts 6 when the church began to help widows in rich ways the text reveals “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith” (vs 7).
Yes, being involved in the ministry of benevolence may at times feel like I’m walking through quicksand, but I must, we must, the church must not shut off our care in truly meaningful ways from others. Let’s make a habit or being generous people. Who can you help today?