Giving Dilemma

How many times should we help our brother or neighbor?

I do not have the answers… but here is my attempt…

* * *

I have friends who live in countries where there is government corruption, civil unrest, theft, robbery, shortages of fuel, food, and medicine; and epidemics of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

These friends have asked me for financial assistance. I have sent them money, but no matter how much I send… it is never enough.

* * *

Jesus taught that we must forgive our brother “seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22)

But Jesus never gave a formula for how many times we should give our neighbor financial aid.

The closest he came was in the story of the “Good Samaritan.” (Luke 10:25-37).

The Good Samaritan gave the innkeeper two denarii (silver coins) to take care of the wounded man. The Samaritan then told the innkeeper that he would later return and reimburse the innkeeper for any additional expense.

Jesus never told rest of the story.

But we can assume that the Samaritan did indeed return and paid the innkeeper for the wounded man’s full bill.

Perhaps this parable teaches that we should financially help someone twice.

* * *

I still do not have answers. But here are some thoughts…

1. We must first pay tithes and offerings to the Lord. (Malachi 3:8-10).
2. The money that we otherwise give to the poor must be in addition to our tithing, but it cannot take the place of tithing.
3. We should never go in debt to help the poor.
4. We can still pray for people even when we must apologetically say “silver and gold have I none.” (Acts 3:6)

For ye have the poor always with you… Matthew 26:11

* * *

One day, a small opening appeared in a cocoon; a man sat and watched for the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Then, it seems to stop making any progress.

It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could not go any further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly: he took a pair of scissors and opened the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a withered body, it was tiny and had shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would open, enlarge and expand, to be able to support the butterfly’s body, and become firm.

Neither happened!

In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a withered body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and his goodwill did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our life.

If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. Never been able to fly.

I asked for Strength…
and I was given difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for Wisdom…
and I was given problems to solve.

I asked for prosperity…
and I was given a brain and brawn to work.

I asked for Courage…
and I was given obstacles to overcome.

I asked for Love…
and I was given troubled people to help.

I asked for Favors…
And I was given Opportunities.

“I received nothing I wanted…
But I received everything I needed.”

Live life without fear, confront all obstacles and know that you can overcome them.

* * *

* * *

The story was originally published in Reader’s Digest in 1950.

In our friendly neighbor city of St. Augustine great flocks of sea gulls are starving amid plenty. Fishing is still good, but the gulls don’t know how to fish. For generations they have depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets. Now the fleet has moved. …

The shrimpers had created a Welfare State for the … sea gulls. The big birds never bothered to learn how to fish for themselves and they never taught their children to fish. Instead they led their little ones to the shrimp nets.

Now the sea gulls, the fine free birds that almost symbolize liberty itself, are starving to death because they gave in to the ‘something for nothing’ lure! They sacrificed their independence for a handout.

A lot of people are like that, too. They see nothing wrong in picking delectable scraps from the tax nets of the U.S. Government’s ‘shrimp fleet.’ But what will happen when the Government runs out of goods? What about our children of generations to come?

Let’s not be gullible gulls. We … must preserve our talents of self-sufficiency, our genius for creating things for ourselves, our sense of thrift and our true love of independence.

* * *

The Lord has taught:

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:19)

Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. (Psalm 104:23)

Obviously some people are too young, too old, or too sick to work. We must help these people.

Others are able-bodied but either cannot or will not find employment…

The two scriptures given above were written in a time when men could hunt, fish, raise sheep, cattle and goats, or farm to earn a living.

A variety of socioeconomic, demographic and natural resource factors would seem to preclude a return to “living off the land” for most people….

– Tom Irvine