If
we pride ourselves in charitable giving and at the same time ignore a beggar
when we have money in our pockets, or if we even refuse to see him as a human
being when we don’t, then we’re failing to live like Christ. Justifications
abound for not giving money to the beggars on the street, but if we’re
justifying why we’re not loving our neighbors as Christians, that should
provoke some thought. We don’t know if that haggard, worn out man out on the
sidewalk in the freezing cold is going to spend that money on alcohol, and you
may not want to help him out if he’s just going to keep messing up and giving
in to his addictions, if he’s not going to use your dollar as his first step to
a brand new life, so we shrug him off and act as if he doesn’t exist, as if
he’s just a part of the fabric of the street.
All
I can think is, if God loved me that way, I’d be screwed.
For while we were
still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will
scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would
dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.6-8)
Give to the one who
begs from you. (Jesus, Matthew 5.42)
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