Helping poor saints and neighbours

Helping the poor saints and the neighbour

"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee" (Pro.3:27-28).

Today, we find many people of God abundantly blessed by God with resources to help the poor people. They have "good" to give to others. But if they withhold this good from them to whom it is due, they would transgress the commandment of Jesus for loving their neighbour. When it is in the power of your hand to give, you should give. If we read the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we find that the rich man landed in hell just because he did not want to share his good things with the poor Lazarus who was lying next door. Today, there are many poor saints in our midst but we do not minister to them when it is in the power of our hand to do it. We covet to receive words of prophecy from ministers of God and save such words of prophecy on our comptuers but we delete their requests for funds to help God's work. If God has blessed you today, you should minister to the Body of Christ today without waiting for any appeal. If you do not minister to His body today, tomorrow the power of thine hand will be taken away from you. A time may come in your life when it will not be in the power of your hand to do it. In our church in Delhi, we organized a sale to raise funds for one of the poineer missionary organizations in India. Our missionary organizations pay only an amount of about Rs.6000/- to a missionary. It is very difficult for a missionary to maintain his/her family with this meagre amount. Our missionaries are poor saints in the Body of Christ. It was an auction sale. The congregation offered gifts for sale. The sale lasted about 3-4 hours. We had two congregations i.e. English speaking congregation and Tamil speaking congregation. The Tamil speaking congregation participated in the auction sale, whereas most of the English speaking congregation members left the church. The Tamil speaking congregation members, though small in number, participated in the auction sale. They gave beyond their ability. An ordinary coconut which costs only Rs.10 was sold for Rs.5000/-. We were able to raise a large amount of about 7 to 9 lakhs of rupees within a short time.

If your neighbour who is in need of money approaches you for financial help, do not say "Go and come again". You should share with him whatever amount you can. Tomorrow God may make you poor. You may have some unfortunate financial downfall or some disease which will drain your financial resources. Who is your neighbour? He is a stranger, not known to you. The definition of the word "neighbour" is given in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan came across a stranger who was wounded by the dacoits. You might have seen some appeal in the television or in any media of communication about the natural calamities or wars or diseases like AIDS that destroyed the lives or the properties of people not known to you. The international relief agencies are sending out their appeals for raising funds. You may be thinking of paying your contributions to these relief agencies at a later date or at a convenient time. As Christians, it is our moral duty to go to the rescue of those who are in despair or in tears. We should not just close our eyes when we see the sufferings of the strangers.

Next....EVIL AGAINST THY NEIGHBOUR