This story is a clear indication of how much God wants us to help both the poor and the needy. We do not expect God to personally come down to earth to help the needy and the poor among us. God uses men to bless men. It is good to give especially to the poor and the needy.
The bible speaking in Deuteronomy 15:11 says " For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land". The bible encourages helping both the poor and the needy in the society. Whenever you see yourself in a position where you can render help to someone in need of it, I beseech you my beloved to do so without delay because God is highly delighted in it.
The bible also tells us that when dealing with both the rich and the poor, we must not be partial about it. James 2:4 ''For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in; and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”; haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Ephesians 4:38 admonishes us to share what we have with those in need.
Proverbs 27:28 "One who gives to the poor has no lack but one who closes his eyes will have many curses". The bible is telling us here that stinginess invites poverty and curses into one's life. We must learn to share what we have with others even when we do not have enough for our self then we should always share the little we have with others who are in need of it after all whether or not we share that which we have, we must definitely run out of it someday. It is pleasant before God when we share with others that which we have.
Hebrews 13:16 says " But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." God's blessings keep on flowing into our lives when we please him, his protection is there for us as well.
Lets take this scenario. Mr A. is a wealthy man. A very wealthy man who has everything at his disposal. He is a christian. He hardly misses church service. He makes numerous contributions towards church project. His name ring bells everywhere in the society. Here comes Mr. B. a very wretched man who hardly affords one square meal a day. Most times, he embarks on a fast because he cannot afford a meal. He has just one pair of trousers and only one faded shirt he uses on it. At night he washes his clothes and spread them to dry so he could use them the next day and whenever luck runs out on him and the clothes could not get dried before the next morning he will have to wear soaked clothes. He lives a stone's throw away from Mr. A's house. He is also a christian. He does not give offerings in church because he has nothing to give and anytime there is church service he treks miles to church to attend service. Mr. A is familiar with Mr. B. He knows how poor Mr.B is but he mocks him whenever he sees him. He drives his car pass Mr B. whenever he sees him trekking to the same church he also is going. Most times he tells Mr. B to his face that he stinks and that he would't want to have anything to do with Mr.B because he could not imagine how he would feel to have people see him around Mr. B. He prefers to set ablaze his unwanted clothes rather than see them on Mr.B because according to him Mr.B. is not worthy enough to have his body touch his used clothes. What he has he only shares with his wealthy fellows, ''They are my class'' are his words. How do you think God would feel seeing this? What impact has Mr. A created in the life of Mr. B?, above all, Of what use then is Mr.A's wealth? He is already under a curse so says the bible in Proverbs 27:28 "Whoever gives to the poor will have plenty. Whoever refuses to help them will get nothing but curses''
Proverbs 19:17 "He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him". When we lend a helping hand to someone, we must not expect to be paid by that person rather we should see our giving as a gift render to God and him only should we look up to for a reward.
Proverbs 22:9"He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor". Just as blessings go with helping the poor so does curses go with not doing same.
Let's see Matthew 25:31-45 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’
“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers , you did it to me.’ Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’"
The scriptures tells us here that whatsoever we do to those in need we do it to God and when we refrain from helping the needy and the poor we also refrain from helping God. Do you know that God blesses us so we could be a blessing to others? If then we decide to be stingy then we are indirectly telling God that the reason for his blessing us is useless. Of course you are useless if you are only useful to yourself alone and not others. This earth is just a passing place. We are only but visitors here and we have a very short time here and We must make the best use of every seconds of our time and we must remember that for every action we take here on earth we will be held accountable for it when our LORD Jesus comes with all his glory. Our impact on the lives of others must be a positive one. We must learn to show love to everyone irrespective of their status, colour, creed, race, gender, wealth, health etc. We are all one and we must love one another.
Luke 12:33 told us to sell the things we have and give that money to those who need it. This is the only way you can keep your riches from being lost. You will be storing treasure in heaven that lasts forever. Thieves can’t steal that treasure, and moths can’t destroy it".
Your purse will not run dry as long as you continue giving to the needy and the poor. Imagine this, when you closes your palm nothing can enter because it has been close but when you open it then you can hold something on it so also it is when you are stingy in giving out that which you have ,then nothing new and better can come in because you have barricaded the way for better things to come in.
Luke 3:11 He answered, “If you have two shirts, share with someone who does not have one. If you have food, share that too.”
See also James 2:15 -16, " Suppose a brother or sister in Christ comes to you in need of clothes or something to eat. And you say to them, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you don’t give them the things they need. If you don’t help them, your words are worthless"
We know God is love and the bible even says so and as children of God who is love, we must always show love to all persons without discrimination. We cannot claim to love God and not show same to people around us.
1 John 3:17 - 18, " Suppose a believer who is rich enough to have all the necessities of life sees a fellow believer who is poor and does not have even basic needs. What if the rich believer does not help the poor one? Then it is clear that God’s love is not in that person’s heart. My children, our love should not be only words and talk. No, our love must be real. We must show our love by the things we do."
We must listen to the cry of the poor and the needy among us so that when we call out to God for help ,he will also answer us. Just like I said earlier on, we can not expect God to come down to earth to help the needy and the poor ones among us. We are the tools of God whom he uses to accomplish his desires here on earth.
Proverbs 21:13 " Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard." . When we show kindness to the poor God blesses us.
Proverbs 14:21 says" Be kind to the poor, and you will be blessed. It is more blessed to give than to receive so says the bible says in Acts 20:35.