Charity

By Beth | September 25, 2018

For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. Mark 14:7

My Christian neighbor had come home from her work at the local welfare office and was sweeping her front porch — furiously. When I asked her if she was okay, she responded in a huff of frustration.

She had helped a line of people to get welfare benefits that day. She said several of them were “playing the system,” receiving moneys set aside to help prepare for job interviews. Problem was, she was seeing people for the second or third time who were obviously not interested in employment, but kept coming back for the money to “help” them prepare. By law, she could not refuse them.

She said they were thieves, unconcerned for others who might actually be in need.

In the book, “In His Service, The Christian Calling to Charity,” R.J. Rushdoony defines Christian charity as “manifesting God’s grace because we have received His grace.”

In contrast to that, the more contemporary term, philanthropy, means literally, “love of man.”[i] Our welfare system is set up for the love of man rather than the love of God.

What is “my” call to show charity? It is an understatement to say we live in a different world than the one illustrated in Acts 6 when the first Deacons were chosen.

The Apostles recognized the responsibility of the church to meet the needs of the poor, sick, and widows who were without aid (families were responsible to care for their own if they were available).

The demand was so great it took too much time from their work of praying and preaching.

Acts 6:3-4 describes their solution to the problem of addressing the needs of the poor among the disciples; “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Christian charity is to be a personal exchange with those who need help. Governmental welfare is a faceless system that holds no one accountable. We Christians have allowed the government to run away with our church’s duty to charity.

Some might reason that we “give” through our taxes as the government cares for the poor – like Planned Parenthood. Obviously, their idea of charity and that of the scriptures differs greatly.

The U.S. welfare system is not charitable. Forcefully taking money from some people to give to someone else cannot be considered charity. Besides that aspect of it, people in such a system can collect money without any encouragement to be employed or turn to the church for real help.

In a face-to-face Christian system, people are more responsible for how they spend what they receive and it is given in love, with the Gospel of Christ.

A needy person’s whole eternity could end up being better because of the generosity of Christians. That is how it was for a very long time.

Does the current welfare system frustrate you as it does my neighbor who works in it (and now me as she has enlightened me to the realities of faceless giving)?

What should our churches be doing? Are we even taking care of our own poor as the first deacons did? Our own families?

What, for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom, should you and I do for someone in need today?

[i] In His Service, R.J. Rushdoony, page 131, 132