Wednesday; April 14

Have you noticed how easy it is to avoid doing good? I mean if we have reason to do good, most of us will jump at the opportunity; but we are also apt to avoid going out of our way to help. If we can find an excuse to not do something, it is tempting to take the out. When someone we know and respect needs help, most of us are willing to give; but when we are ask to donate to someone that we don’t know – or more importantly – someone who lives in questionable circumstances, we are less apt to donate. It is tempting to process our liberality through questions like: “Are they helping themselves?” … “What is their immigration status?” … “How many times have they been helped before?” … or “What are others doing to help them?”. While there is a human legitimacy to each of these questions, they seem to ring hollow when compared to the scriptural admonition, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” (Galatians 6:10). It is easy to emphasize the second half of that statement, but notice that Paul directs we are support to help everyone.
Rather than spending our emotional resources on determining if someone deserves our help, how would things be better if we went ahead and helped those who needed it? When we do, we’ll see more opportunities and we’ll feel better about doing it.

Think About It!

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