And it came to pass as Jesus taught his disciples, he said unto them, Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise, you have no reward of your Father who is in Heaven. Therefore, when you do alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Truly I say unto you, they have their reward. But when you do alms, let it be unto you as your left hand not knowing what your right hand does, that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret himself shall reward you openly. (Matthew 6:1-4)
God loves everyone. God wants to bless everyone but not everyone obeys His commandments so as to permit Him to reward them. In part, I believe God rewards those who use their excess to bless the poor and the needy because it allows his compassion to benefit those it may not otherwise reach.
But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)
Our duty before God as Christians is to provide for our family first. As wonderful as it feels to be generous and give alms to the poor, it is unwise to do so at the cost of not meeting the needs of your own household. It is good to give alms to the poor but it should be done wisely.
Christ does not say, “if you do alms” but “when you do alms”. How often do you do this? How do you determine who is poor and who to give to? How do you determine whether or not you have “enough and to spare” that you are at liberty to share what you do not personally need?
I feel that this is a topic we should spent a good deal of solemn ponderous thought on.
We are all beggars before God and the second great commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
If a beggar comes before you asking for help, do you ever deny them? On what grounds? I don't believe you can have more than you need for the needs and just wants of your household, deny the beggar still have an interest in heaven.
Remember the prior post. We cannot serve God and covet.
