BE A CHEERFUL GIVER WITH BOTH
DISCERNMENT AND GENEROSITY
(This brief reflection is has been appearing on American Thinker since Christmas Eve.)
Christmas has become a complete religious / commercial mash-up. From post-Thanksgiving “Black Friday,” it seems we’re in a virtual orgy of materialism.
But the Salvation Army bell ringers I’ve seen in front of Kroger over the last few weeks remind me that Yuletide highlights the spirit of generosity and a specific kind of gift giving that flows from it — namely, charitable sharing.
The surfeit of stuff that clutters most Americans’ lives today can mask the reality that there are people in need.
Sometimes need results from bad decisions, profligate spending, and excessive debt, to which at least part of that stuff may attest. What gets called poverty often turns out to be mostly wastefulness. In other words, just being broke.
A modicum of self-discipline relieves a surprising amount of financial stress, and sets you on the road to fiscal recovery.
But this isn’t always the situation, not by any means.
People can (and do) hit extremely rough patches through no fault of their own. Or they start out in disadvantaged circumstances from which they’re never able to extricate themselves.
Christmas is generally when human need comes into sharpest focus. Messages of love and fellowship permeate the atmosphere through holiday displays, greeting cards, popular songs, TV specials, church liturgies — all prompting us to express some sort of benevolence, and reminding us there are folks to whom benevolence is due.
That’s a good thing. We all can use a little reminding. But it does call up several recurring (and slightly unsettling) questions, such as…
How can you tell when need is real?
How do you discern a proper response to the call of conscience?
How might you be reasonably sure that your generosity will have a constructive effect?
There’s no denying both Judaism and Christianity see charity as essential. In Jewish tradition helping the needy is a mitzvah, an act of religious obligation. And Jesus, good Jew that he was, told his followers that kindness toward “the least of these” was equivalent to serving him.
Yet, we’ve all heard stories of those self-identified “homeless” who rake in big bucks with a sob story and a threadbare coat. I recall a TV news report about one woman panhandler who set up on a busy corner every day, her luxury car parked down the block. Likewise, a lot of food given out at the local emergency pantry or served at the parish’s annual community supper finds its way into stomachs that don’t suffer deprivation at all.
We’re often advised that we shouldn’t judge people — that determining the motives behind the open hand isn’t up to us. But somehow that doesn’t seem quite right. Isn’t moral discernment a moral imperative?
Confronting requests for charity always throws me into a quandary.
Whenever I’m approached for a handout, my first reaction is a certain defensiveness, being all too aware that it’s my resources somebody wants to tap.
But then I catch myself up and try to be a good Christian, reminding myself (as good Christians always advise) to see the face of Jesus.
This makes me feel guilty for my stingy inclinations, so I invariably hand over some cash.
As soon as I cave in to my guilt, however, I feel like I’ve been a soft touch, and should have insisted the recipient show they truly needed my help and will do something worthwhile with what I’ve given them.
“Where’s my moral fortitude?” I ask myself. After all, even if the appeal is genuine, there’s no way of knowing whether my generosity just enables bad habits that may have brought someone to a precarious state in the first place.
And then I feel guilty about that.
There can be opportunities to help in ways that minimize the risk of unintended harm. My mother used to tell of how a scruffy fellow once appeared at her door claiming to be hungry. Her immediate impression was that, hungry or not, any money she might give him would likely be translated into liquid sustenance.
Being possessed of a certain native moral sense (which is to say she was pretty good at sizing people up), Mom told the guy to sit down on the stoop, and then made him a sandwich.
Hers was an appropriate response to a call of conscience, without ignoring the importance of discernment. Charity accomplished, quandary resolved.
Sadly, such alternatives are not always available to us. And anyway, we live in a more paranoid time than when that hungry fellow appeared at my mother’s door. The casual atrocities we hear about in the news these days put us all on our guard, and rightly so.
Or maybe it just comes down to me being more paranoid than Mom was.
Either way, I think her solution points to a moral truth…
Giving is an act of faith.
Even when we aren’t completely certain it’s the right thing to do (and more often than not, we can’t be), it’s usually best to err on the side of generosity. And then we mustn’t second-guess our humane impulses.
The Apostle Paul put it well in his Second Letter to the Corinthians when he observed…
“Each must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)
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You can view this essay on American Thinker at…
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/12/the_spirit_of_generosity.html
An earlier version appeared on this blog back in December of 2014…
http://www.billkassel.com/?s=Spirit+of+Generosity
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The Salvation Army does great work, but there are plenty of other worthwhile charities too. One I’d recommend is The Lingap Children’s Foundation, which runs a life-changing school for poor children in the Philippines — and I’m talking about kids who definitely match Jesus’ description of “the least of these.” Here’s a link to the Foundation’s website…
…and one to an article about its founder, John Drake, which appeared in the June 2011 issue of Faith Magazine…
http://www.lingapcenter.org/pdf/faithmag.pdf
Wikipedia has a short note about the origins of those Salvation Army bell ringers who show up every Christmas with their classic red kettles…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_kettle
Al says
Most charitable acts fall far from perfection. Many “charitable” organizations charge huge administrative costs lessening the money that actually gets to those in need.
Give a few bucks to the guy on the street, and stop thinking about vetting him.
Melissa says
From the AMERICAN THINKER Comments Section…
This article reminded me of a conversation that I had with God a few months back.
I happened to see a pan-handler when I was out one afternoon. I began wrestling with my conscience as I often do when seeing such people. “To help, or not to help” that is the question.
I began speaking to the Lord while driving my car. I said, “Lord, I am happy to help people in genuine need, but I just don’t like giving money to people who are in situations because of their own bad decisions”. The Lord spoke to me immediately and said “Isn’t all sin the result of one’s own bad decisions?” I nearly ran my car off the road. The passage in John 8:7, of course, immediately came to my mind. “Let he that is without sin among you, cast the first stone at her”.
We have all sinned. We have ALL made bad choices. Charity is the act of OVERLOOKING those sins, those bad choices. It’s the same charity God shows to US when we sin.
Now, I try to give without passing any judgement, as the Bible says “Give to them that ask, and from them who would borrow, turn not away.” This attitude has been very liberating.
God’s wisdom always surpasses our own.
Steve says
From Facebook…
I always give generously to the Salvation Army, because I know that most of that money really goes to helping the truly needy.
Claudia says
Like the Saints said, if they have to ask they are already paying for it.
Now what makes me upset is the people who receive food stamps, are not underweight, and still go to churches to get more food! Which should be given to the truly needed on the subway stations.