COVID has done more than just take lives, some have become homeless due to the pandemic..https://endhomelessness.org/covid-19-and-the-state-of-homelessness/
Helping the homeless is something I have always had a heart for. https://singleparents.dfwhostingwebsites.com/my-mothers-birthday/
I don’t feel led to help out at missions or shelters. However, when I see a person on the street begging for money, it is rare that I don’t give the homeless some change.
This year I have decided to diminish my use of credit cards. It became too easy for me to whip out a card and spend frivolously. So I made a pledge to use cash when I went to the grocery store or other stores to buy items. When I made this pledge, I integrated a path to help the homeless. Whenever I get dollar bills in change I stick them in the console of my car. When I happen upon a homeless person on the street I reach in my console and grab some dollar bills to give to them. (I had previously just shared my change.)
I try as hard as I can to run my businesses and my life by following the guidelines in the Bible.
In Leviticus 19:9-10 the Lord gives direction on how we are to treat the poor. “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. (10) It is the same with your grape crop-do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”
This passage provides great wisdom for how to deal with the poor.
Some people want a hand out that they have not worked for. I believe that God wants us all to make an honest wage. The city I live in has a wonderful program for the homeless. They provide housing if the homeless pick up trash. I wish there were more programs like that.
I know that homeless people are, for the most part, not working. However, I do believe that standing on a corner and begging for money in all types of weather would NOT easy, so I give them a pass.
After reading this passage I came to another conclusion. Tipping needs to be a priority I usually leave quite a good tip at cafes’ but I have a wonderful hairdresser that I have only tipped 15%. This last time I tipped more. The other day I was at Whataburger and there was this sweet young lady who was taking orders and bringing food out to people’s cars. I gave her a dollar for her hard work.
It is important to note that in this passage that the Lord does not require you to give to the poor from your main crop but rather allow them to pick from the edges of your field. I have met a few people in my life who would have cleaned me out financially if I had let them. They were clearly asking for more than just the edge of the field.
I have been cleaned out once in my life, where I was taken down to zero due to the greed of another person but the Lord sustained me in that battle. Funny thing, this person was not poor, just greedy, which can be a wicked monster in itself.
I believe as a Christian it is important to give our overflow, if you have it, to the poor. For at the end of this passage it states. “I am the Lord your God.”
If you don’t share your extra money with the poor, I wonder… who is your God?
