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Monday, May 10, 2010

update: what to do?

A few months ago, I posted about my dilemma with beggars. At the time I was struggling with how to respond. I continue to struggle with how to respond.

Recently, I was reading in the book of Matthew (in the Bible) and one of the scriptures seemed to answer my question. Matthew 6:42 reads:

Give to the one who begs from you.

Well, that seems simple enough, but really it just leads to another question. What should I give - Money? Time? Clothes? Should my gift come with strings attached, like pick up trash or wash my car? Or should my gift be given out of the kindness of my heart with no strings attached? What are your thoughts? What do you do when you encounter a beggar on the street?

1 comment:

  1. Beggers on the streets where you work/visit/live are quite different then the ones I come across on my way to work. So the answer would be different. The ability to not beg for a living completely exists here in America. That isn't to say living on mimimum wage is a piece of cake. Not at all. You give your entire being to better humanity on a very large scale. So the fact that you struggle with how to give more or what you can give really shows your compassion and kindness.

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