“He that has pity on the poor lends to the poor.” (Prov. 19:17) God does not need our money, but there are many who are truly in need that do, and generally speaking, when we as Christians think of giving, we think of our money. The cash that our Lord has blessed us with is of course just one of the ways that we have been blessed with the ability to help not only our brothers and sisters in the Lord, but others also, the problem it seems to me is that it is the most difficult way, at least in many of our hearts, to give. We do after all work very hard for our money, for most forty hours or more a week just to make ends meet, and therein can lay the problem.
For those that are saved, yet still ‘carnal’ to a degree, the “laying up of treasures on earth…” (Matt. 6:19-21) is a very difficult prospect to deal with, after all, the more I make, the more I can give, right? Those that fear the loss of financial riches here on earth will be the ones who will most miss them when they disappear, and are the ones who are most likely to fall into the devious trap of Satan that if God loves you, He will bless you with lots of money. Prosperity theology is now, and for a very long time, has been a great lie of our adversary. Think on this, the widow with only two mites to give, (Mark 12:41-44), how do you think her life ended, or for that matter, why do you believe the Lord let this fine woman come to a point to where all she had left in the world, at least in her finances, was two pennies. Did she give them gladly, I would think so, or I doubt that our Lord would have even mentioned her, so I am sure that she gave with a glad heart. But many may misinterpret this verse, thinking that she gave all that she had left so that God would give her even more. Even though God let the devil take all that Job had, don’t you think there were times that he used to miss what he used to have, do you believe he just forgot the seven children that died. What would you continue to think of our lord if he decided that this poor widow was to die in poverty, or would you rather not think He would allow that.
I bring to your attention to the account of Lazarus and the rich man, (Luke 16:19-31) one fairing sumptuously the other a poor beggar, full of sores and ready to perish. The one who had all that he could want here on earth went to hell, leaving all his treasure that he has accumulated here on this planet, his riches received, then lost. The other, the poor and sickly man, receiving all that he could hope for and more in the Kingdom of God. Have you ever wondered why the Lord would leave this man in such a predicament for so long, feeding him, but only with crumbs, not even enough funds to seek medical attention for his sores. And we complain about not having a job with proper medical benefits, or perhaps that the grocery store is out of the type of bread that we normally purchase. We have brothers and sisters in Christ all around this globe that would fall to their knees in great thanksgiving if they were to be able to enter into even one of the smallest grocery stores that are available to us on nearly a daily basis. Our shame should bring us to our knees in repentance and begging for forgiveness and mercy for taking for granted the enormous benefits that the Good Lord has seen fit to bless us with.
There is a great need to pray for wise discernment here, and this cannot be overstated enough. If you happen to live in a major metropolitan area then nearly on a daily basis you are confronted with the homeless, the hungry, the destitute, and if you hand everyone of them even just five dollars each day, you too will become one of them soon, for all your funds will diminish rapidly. Many of them will come to recognize your face and each day will follow you until that days needs for them are met, and, to no fault of your own, you have stopped helping them and become an enabler. See our Lord’s answer to this in John 6:26.
On the other hand, it does no good to tell a hungry man that you will pray for him when you have at hand the means to feed him. We must pray for wisdom that we do not cross the line of helping and enabling, and such a very fine line it is. On one hand we all as Christians want to help all we can, thwarting as it were the effects of sin and unrighteousness while we are here by the Grace of God, yet, enabling can cause just as much damage, and, I mean this with no ill will at all, but sometimes we do not allow those who are in this position to see the blessings that our Lord is trying to impart to them, as perhaps He was doing with the poor widow and Lazarus. We tend to shy away from even the most remote possibility of pain and suffering, and it is a turmoil for those that are truly seeking the will of God, for many blessings He has poured on those who receive them, and understand Acts 14:22. Pray for wisdom in this area.
I will use a narrative here that is not related to finances but holds true to the same principles that must be applied sometimes. In my younger days, before Christ, I was a nonconformist, to say the least. The first time I was arrested, my father bailed me out , the second, my mother ‘told’ him to post my bail, but the third time, as my father drove slowly past the small county jail while I was out in the yard shooting hoops, he asked me what was for lunch that day as he held out a big bag of McDonald’s burgers and fries he that had purchased for himself, and then drove on. For the most part that day I was taught an important lesson, I had two feet and it was time I stood on them.
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21) If you love your money more than anything else, then your love will only be returned with what that money can bring, the things and so-called pleasures of this world. If you feel a need to help all that you see with only money, then your heart is misplaced, for it is only one of the tools that the Lord has blessed us with, and as stated before, God does not need our money, but he does bless us with it not only for our own personal needs, but to help these in need. Much wise discernment must be applied here.
Those that understand the Scriptures understand well that the “love of money…”, (1st Tim. 6:10), not money, is the root of all evil, not some evil, but all evil. From this love, as the Scripture says, comes many sorrows. Will you give crumbs to Lazarus, or feed him from your table. There are many Christians who have been blessed by God with great financial wealth here, and if you listen to most of them speak, they will tell you that they have tried to out-give God, and they just can’t do it, laughing and praising His name as they say so, for the money is of value only to them when they are in wisdom giving for the furthering of His Kingdom and His glory. Others there are that our Lord has chosen to live within a very strict and tight budget, and when they give it is with a heart that burst with joy that he has blessed them to help in whatever way that they can and in whatever way He leads, for they also know that “Every good gift and every perfect gift…”(James 1:17).
It is not how much money we have or do not have, my friends, we will walk on streets of gold, it is how we use the money He has given us. (Luke 16:10) The wise man will not tithe when there is no food in the house for his family, the wise man will not make sure he has a large steak every night and let his tithing slip, and the loving man will make sure his neighbor has food enough for the day, and help him to find a job or assistance if he is able the next day, leading him in the path of righteousness through the strength of the Holy Spirit so that he too can then help his neighbor.
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
