How Much Help Do We Give?

For even when we were with you, we gave this rule: 'If a man will not work, he shall not eat.' We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 NIV

The urge to help runs deep in some of us. We see the person at the corner and we want to help, but is it the right thing? Are we truly helping this person or is he/she taking advantage? For me it doesn't feel right giving them money. I'd like to have a manna bag( a bag with water, a granola bar, hygiene items) to hand out, but I haven't taken the time to make any.

Someone in our family needs help and we want to run to his/her rescue, but how many times do we do this. When can the problem be solved by himself or herself. It's tough to see our child go through something tough, but that experience maybe what he/she needs in order to trust in the Lord.

So how do we know when we should help, and when we should let the circumstance solve itself without our involvement? Tough question.

There are times when we need to come along someone and help them. An illness, a death in the family, a job loss, but how do we know when we're being taken advantage of? I guess it comes down to when you begin to feel drained because the person your helping isn't even trying to work things out then it might be time to cut off the help. He/She has begun to depend on you more than the Lord.

At our church we had a food pantry. The idea was good: to help people who couldn't get through the week without food. The problem began though when the people who came began to depend on the free food and spend their money on things that were not a necessity. They learn how to cheat the system. The people who were running it somehow began to leave God out and were giving themselves the glory. Unfortunately, this food pantry had to close its doors. They became busybodies instead of earning the bread they ate.

We must not give up helping people, we just need to remember to let them earn the bread they eat.