GIVE: To those who ask?

“Jesus said if someone asks, we should give…”

From a Christian perspective, shouldn’t Jesus’s mandate to give to those who ask, compel us to give to those around us who are asking? We are frequently exposed to the local needs and even panhandlers, who are directly asking us to help them. However, the needs of the poorest of the world have been made known to you as well.

Do we believe Jesus’s mandate only applies to those who directly ask in person? This leads to an absurd conclusion: only those that have the ability to come in contact with the wealthy should have the priviledge of benefitting from their generosity. Should Africans be denied our generosity because they can’t afford to travel to our highways and put cardboard signs asking for money? The reality is that we live in globalized society, and the needs of the world have been made known to us. Jesus is telling us to meet the needs that are made known, not give prioritization to those who are able to deliver the request in person. And this mandate is not just here, the core of  Jesus’s message is about meeting the needs of this world

“But we can give to both, I am in favor of all these charitable causes”

Prioritization questions are often the most difficult and frequently avoided. It seems like we are often quick to offer an answer to black and white, right/wrong questions. But when faced with choosing between multiple good alternatives, we usually default to politically correct rhetoric, avoiding any commitment. Unevitably such decisions must be made when it comes down to writing a check, but the lack of well-reasoned dialogue about prioritization means that are decisions are often poorly informed, misguided, and based on nothing but any residual emotionals we feel at the moment. We can do better.

Sure, it would be great if we didn’t have to choose. And if you have a couple trillion dollars to blow, then I guess you wouldn’t, but once again, we have limited resources. Lets use them wisely.

“Handouts just keep people in poverty, they don’t really fix the situation”

It is definitely true that finances can be used poorly overseas and even make situations worse. However, most credible charities have decades of experience in understanding how to really deal with problems instead of just providing handouts. These are experts, they know the store of teaching a man to fish inside and out. But teaching a man to fish still takes resources and money.

“You’re being totally naive, you can’t just boil these complex issues down to monetary figures”

Yes, you are absolute right. It is true the poverty is actually caused by a complex web of corruption, resource mis-allocation, education shortcomings, brain drain, disease, and much more, more than just resource scarcity. And there are tredemendous local charities that are doing excellent, critical work here in America, than can’t be discounted just because they aren’t constantly facing starving children and can’t extend their dollar as far as workers in third-world country. I am not writing this to try to get you to stop giving domestically (well, I wouldn’t mind if you stopping giving to panhandlers).

However, I present these arguments because I believe that we are truly out of balance in our giving. There is always a tendency to give more to the needs that are closest, but we need to be resolute in considering the needs of those far from us. And I don’t think we are in any danger of giving too much overseas. Even if half of our giving went overseas to meet the needs of the vast majority of the suffering world, we still wouldn’t be overdoing it, and with our current level of less than 10%, giving more internationally will never be likely to put us out of balance.

Consider these needs of the truly poor abroad and the remarkable power you have to alleviate suffering as you evaluate your finances.

{Thanks so much, Kris, for sharing your thoughts with us on this. Tomorrow I’ll share what the Lord has personally been challenging me with, in regards to giving. Thanks so much for reading and considering these issues. Bless you!}