Christianity and helping the poor--Sara Vee
Christianity and Helping the Poor
In Deuteronomy 15.11, God says to the Israelites, "I command you to be open handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." (New International Version) God commanded the Israelites to help the poor and intended for Christians to take this as an example and follow it. The Israelites were God's people in the Old Testament and Christians, including those from Israel, are God's people. As this is read from the Bible, all that is thought of is that we are people of God and that we need to take God's commands seriously and to heart. Why, how, and how much should the needy be helped? Take a look at some examples and we can see what God commands us to do with the needy.
While helping to support the needy, it is important to remember to not just give things to people who are less fortunate than others, but to "assist" them in doing things that they may want or need to do. This can be done by showing others our love for them and our love for God by our actions more than our words. But someone may say, "One person has faith, another has actions." My answer is, "Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions." (James. 2.18, Today's English Version) Showing faith by actions would be to help out someone in need with a smile on our face and not complaining about it later. "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Cor. 9.7, New International Version) Each person should give spiritually, and also physically.
Physically helping the poor may be very demanding for most people. One way to look at helping the poor and having the amounts being nice to look at is to do what God says in the Bible. "Every Sunday each of you must put aside some money, in proportion to what you have earned, and save it up so that there will be no need to collect money when I come." (1 Cor. 16. 2-3, Today's
In Deuteronomy 15.11, God says to the Israelites, "I command you to be open handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." (New International Version) God commanded the Israelites to help the poor and intended for Christians to take this as an example and follow it. The Israelites were God's people in the Old Testament and Christians, including those from Israel, are God's people. As this is read from the Bible, all that is thought of is that we are people of God and that we need to take God's commands seriously and to heart. Why, how, and how much should the needy be helped? Take a look at some examples and we can see what God commands us to do with the needy.
While helping to support the needy, it is important to remember to not just give things to people who are less fortunate than others, but to "assist" them in doing things that they may want or need to do. This can be done by showing others our love for them and our love for God by our actions more than our words. But someone may say, "One person has faith, another has actions." My answer is, "Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions." (James. 2.18, Today's English Version) Showing faith by actions would be to help out someone in need with a smile on our face and not complaining about it later. "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Cor. 9.7, New International Version) Each person should give spiritually, and also physically.
Physically helping the poor may be very demanding for most people. One way to look at helping the poor and having the amounts being nice to look at is to do what God says in the Bible. "Every Sunday each of you must put aside some money, in proportion to what you have earned, and save it up so that there will be no need to collect money when I come." (1 Cor. 16. 2-3, Today's