Helping the Needy

In my line of work, I have needy people come to me for help all the time. That is just part of my job and I don't partucularly like or dislike it. I see it as one of the things God has me here for. As Christians, we are supposed to help those around us in need. Yes, after a few times, I require them to do things to help themselves before I'll help any further. It might be to ask their teenage or grown child to get a job, to come in and make a budget with me, or to get rid of unnecessary expenses such as Internet, cell phones, and bottled water. I usually don't hear from them again, but if they don't want to help themselves, then so be it.

Also, you can't get too close to people in need. I'm not refering to just physical needs either. I'm refering to people we see spinning their wheels in life and having self-pity parties all the time. First of all, yes the world is against you. It is supposed to be. But, it's against all of us and we have to get past that and move on with life. These are the people that, if you get too close to, they will drag you down with them.

No matter what you do to help those people, if they never begin helping themselves, their situation will not improve. There is no such thing as a destiny that we are headed to regardless of what we put into life. The only destiny is being destined to fail when we expect more than we put into something. Then, if you are too close to them, their plan turns to continuing to drain your resources because they won't work for any themselves or to simply hurt you because they're jealous of the life you've worked hard for. They can be jealous of someone's money they've saved while they wasted. They can be jealous of someone's "pretty things" while they didn't take care of what they had. They can be jealous of someone's job, career, or position society that they worked hard to get while they were being lazy. They can be jealous of someone's family that they've had to work through the good, the bad, and the ugly to enjoy their marriage and their kids, while they were busy being too selfish to invest in anything but themselves. They can be jealous of someone's looks that they may have spent hours in a gym or watching what they ate while they were Biggie sizing everything. Proverbs warns that being too close to those people can cost you what you've worked hard for because, having nothing to lose, those people will attempt to take what you have, and if you both end up with nothing, they haven't lost anything.

I watch Deal or No Deal last night and as the offer reach $278,000, the husband began to tell his wife to take the deal. The "best friend" was screaming 'no deal'. She went no deal and it dropped to $170,000 on that turn. The husband again begged her to take the deal while her friend continued to scream 'no deal'. Again, she went no deal and it dropped to just $22,000. The husband was looking at the reality of what they had and the friend was just along for the ride and probably knew settling would mean she might not get anything, but winning a million dollars would certainly get her sometime as her friend. Well, this was house money, but what if it hadn't been? And what if it hadn't even been just money? Seems like the friend was a bad influence and more than willing to gamble with something that wasn't her own.

Sure this last weekend, that person would have said, "Bet $10,000 on the Cowboys and we'll split the winnings." What would they have been losing either way? And $10,000 is a lot of money to me, and I would have lost it while they lost nothing. Money is just money, but what if it was, bet your kids? bet your career? bet your marriage? bet your friends? bet your reputation? bet your home? bet your dignity? That person is willing to bet anything you have because they have nothing to lose, and if you lose it all, they just pack up and move on to find someone else willing to "help" them that they can selfishly suck in and begin betting the things they have worked hard for and God blessed them with. They pretend to admire you just to get close enough to take from you, and sometimes they take things that you can never get back.

I quoted this Proverb before in a blog: "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20. We help the needy with our resources because we are called to do so, but we don't bet our own 'wealth' (the blessings of God) on them because that is foolish. The wise admire the tiger and throw him the food he needs from a distance. If you get close enough for him to take it, then you could lose an arm with it.