A lot of us would probably do good if we were asked to or if there was something to gain by doing so. How many times have you known that someone needed help and you acted without being asked?  What about when someone asked you for help? Did you ask them to come back letter because you wanted them to find someone else to help? Scripture is very emphatic on the issue of helping or exercising kindness to others particularly those in need. The book of Proverbs teaches that “he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given” Proverbs 19:17.

If society functioned the way God intended it to we would have few people living in the kind of misery that we witness today. Greed and lack of love has infiltrated our thinking and the saying that it is a world where only the fittest survive becomes true.  In the book of Deuteronomy God told the children of Israel that, “you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs—. For the poor will never cease from the land, therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your hand,’” Deuteronomy 15:8, 11.

Many people argue that the poor are so because of some fault of their own. This kind of reasoning makes it easy to close their heart and hands to the needy. The fact of the matter is that we live in unjust societies and even the so called equality is a myth. There are many sneaky ways that are used to discriminate and so though we may claim that in paper all have the same opportunities this is not always true. This is why God said that “there will always be poor among you” for He knows the mind and ways of humans.  Others fall in need because of sickness or poor economic situation like the current situation we are in today. God expects us to respond to the needy regardless of whom or what was responsible for their condition.  

Recently I read of a wonderful story of an act of kindness as narrated by the son whose father had done the good deed. The boy had gone to the circus with his father. Ahead of them in line was a man and his wife together with eight children. The eldest child was probably about 12 years. The cashier told the man the total amount due from him for the family and the wife was the first to react in shock. The man asked the cashier again in a soft voice what the amount was and you could tell his distress to learn that he could not afford it and would have to disappoint his children. The boy telling the story said he saw his father drop a $20 bill and then pick it up and tapped the man with the 12 children saying, “Sir, I think you dropped this”. The man turned a round and with tears in his eyes thanked the boy’s dad as he realized what he was doing.

Not only did this man’s action help the family but he also helped in a dignified way. He covered the father from the shame that goes with being needy, by making it look like the money was his and had fallen down. That day the boy and his father could not see the circus but they both went home joyful knowing that they had made 10 people happy. The best way to help a person in need is to do it in a way that you do not shame them. Few people want to admit that they need help, perhaps because of the shame associated with it. So ask God to help you to be sensitive to the needs of others and offer help before it is asked. If God makes you aware of a needy person it is because he wants you to help without being asked.

There are many ways you can do this. You can do grocery shopping to a family in need and live it at their doorstep with a note saying it was a gift from God. You can send someone a check and tell them God told you to give it to them. You can send them tickets for some entertainments for the children. There are so many creative way of helping in a dignified way. And please do not go telling everyone what you have done because your good acts should be between God and you unless you are acting as a group. Jesus said that “when you do a charitable deed do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do —. But when you do your charitable deed do not let your left hand know what the right hand is doing, that your charitable deed maybe be in secret”( Mathew 6: 1-4).

If someone ask you for help do not go into length to ask for details of why they need help unless there is cause to, like perhaps they abuse substance. It is good to be responsible in giving but do not use this to humiliate them.  Treat those in need the way you would like to be treated if you were to fall in need. Remember it is not only about material substance that acts of goodness are needed. Consider that lonely lady in your neighbor who has no one to talk to; whose house has not been cleaned for a long time because she is not able to do so. Think of that single mother who is working so hard to provide for her family and sometimes cannot afford child care. How about that immigrant in your neighborhood who has no family around, can offer them some kindness?

If you are a follower of Christ, that relationship should be reflected in how you relate to others. Christianity is action oriented and is manifested in love and not in judgment.