Saturday, October 13, 2012

We Are To Help Those In Need

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,

For the rights of all who are destitute.

Speak up and judge fairly;

Defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

-- Proverbs 31:8-9

How do you choose whom you help? Or maybe you don’t help anyone? Maybe you’re one of those people who thinks writing a check to the “church” insures that you don’t have to get your own hands dirty?

All those who are now defensive please raise your hands? Yeah. Just what I thought. There’s a roomful of folks who don’t want to be bothered with those who are less fortunate.

In this political heat that is flaming all around us, it’s easy to get lost in the ridiculousness of it all. People should help themselves, some say. If people are poor, it’s their own fault, others chime in. This is the land of opportunity, after all. Anybody can achieve anything. Right?

Not necessarily. There are any number of reasons why someone might not achieve the American dream, including education, economics, health and abilities. Someone who has to drop out of high school to help support his or her family isn’t as likely to get ahead as someone who has a free ride to college and connections to get the “right” job after graduation.

That isn’t to say the opportunity isn’t there, just that it isn’t always possible. And we shouldn’t judge what we don’t know.

That said, we shouldn’t determine who deserves help based on what we see from the outside looking in. Yeah. I’m talking to you. We all do that to some degree and it leads to some really bad decisions.

Not long ago our church decided to help an older woman whose yard was overgrown. It was all good until one man found out that the woman had a son. Well, the man no longer wanted the church to help. The son should take care of his mother’s yard, he said adamantly.

Except that the son wasn’t physically able to do it anymore. He’d had back surgery and simply couldn’t. Oh. That changed things, though the man never apologized for his wrong attitude. Our church did the work.

Another situation we’re dealing with involves a woman in need and a daughter who simply doesn’t care and won’t help. So do we not help the woman? Of course we do! We must help, even as we pray for God to change the daughter’s heart. But we can’t walk away from a need because someone else should step up.

Nor can we walk away from a need simply because we look and judge without truly knowing the situation and circumstances. We’re to stand up for the poor and for those who can’t defend and care for themselves. We’ll be judged on what we do, not what someone else was supposed to do.