So I was talking with some friends about Austin Street shelter and just
the homeless in general. I think that it’s great what the group from
Encounter are doing by going down there and giving out blankets,
clothes, cookies, and in a couple of weeks hygiene kits. I have been a
couple of times and had a good time. And, if you take the time, you can
actually get to know some of the people. Anyway, someone posed this
question. If we, as in anyone, go to the shelters and give out the
stuff that people need to get by (clothes, blankets, hygiene, etc) why
would they have to work and are we in a way enabling them to just get by
and be lazy? Maybe not lazy, but are we enabling them to live their life
as they please and not have to work because they have the necessities?
What do you think? I’m not saying in anyway I agree with this comment,
it just came up in conversation and I wondered what other people
thought.
I’ve dealt with this question many times, especially when you see someone standing alongside the road asking for money and you hear stories all the time about people just taking the money and buying beer or liquor or drugs with them.
Believe me – I’ve seen it.
But Scripture doesn’t tell me to question where the money goes or how they use what I give them, it just tells me to give.
He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”
Now we can say, well the homeless are not my neighbor, we can say immigrants (illegal or not) are not our neighbor, we can say Africa is not our neighbor, but I believe every human being is our neighbor regardless of race, creed or religion.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'”
To the unbeliever this may sound foolish but my call is to love my neighbor and I feel that if I have the ability to go to Jos, Nigeria and love my neighbor there I better be willing to go to the streets of downtown Dallas and do the same.
And also, I want to be about the business of God and I believe God is in the business of helping those in need – physically, spiritually and emotionally.
Just saw this and thought it added to the conversation, “You can find Calcutta anywhere in the world. You only need two eyes to see. Everywhere in the world there are people that are not loved, people that are not wanted nor desired, people that no one will help, people that are pushed away or forgotten. And this is the greatest poverty.”
– Mother Teresa
I’ve met a few folks at Austin St who seem to have built a life around expecting others to take care of them. Maybe at first their intentions were good and maybe people giving to them has fostered a laziness. But I agree that God does not want me to make a judgement call to help others, He just wants me to help.
Austin St has shattered my image of homelessness. I always though of the homeless as being addicts, lazy, ex-cons or mentally ill who made poor choices and landed themselves on the streets. In the last several months, I’ve learned that many of the people we’ve met have jobs, are educated, have no prison records, have never battled addiction and are usually more sane than me! 🙂 For so many, what landed them on the streets are unfortunate circumstances such as job loss or getting behind on their bills and losing their homes. Dane and I used to have the security of a nice little nest egg–and then Peyton got sick. Despite the fact we have good health insurance, Peyton’s cancer wiped out every dime in savings we ever had and then some. If Dane were to lose his job and we didn’t have a support network of family and friends, we could end up losing our home and be on the streets. If that ever happended to us, I would pray that God would send help. I look at what we all do at Austin St as one of the ways God answers the call for help He hears daily from the folks we are privileged to minister to. I don’t think we are enabling. I think we are showing Jesus and I think we are meeting some needs until God changes the circumstances these people are in. And if there is anyone taking advantage of what God is using us to do, then God will handle that and I need not worry. God’s job is to dispense correction and conviction if need be. My job is to show others the immense love God has for them.