THOUGHT FOR TODAY

If you’ve watched the news lately you would have noticed the increase in the amount of homeless people throughout New Zealand.

In fact, you only need to go for a walk through the main streets of any city to see for yourself.

Proverbs 3:27 says “Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person.” I remember being approached by a young man who told me he was homeless, that he hadn’t eaten for days and did I have any spare change so he could get some food.

I gave him five dollars.

About half an hour later, I saw the same young man standing with a group of friends, laughing and smoking a cigarette. And I thought, ‘So you can afford to smoke but you can’t afford a loaf of bread!’

I became fixated on the word ‘deserves’ in this proverb. Who deserves my help?

After a while I discovered I wasn’t helping anyone because I was looking for excuses not to.

If we see a person in need, and we are able to help, then this proverb is encouraging us to do so.

I don’t know if that young man spent my five dollars on cigarettes.

That cigarette may have been put together from butts he’d gathered over time from the gutters.

That cigarette may well have been his only bright spot in an otherwise dismal day.

He asked for help, and I was able to help him, so I did.