Whatever you have done to the least vs.. God helps them who help themselves.

[ProdigalSeeker]

Good morning, family...

Trying to reconcile my personal feeling that God will help us if we take initiative and show we want/need help, versus going out of my way to assist someone that has no desire to change things.

As an illustration, there was a point in my life that I was homeless... literally on the streets (2 years out of 4). During that time I ran into several people that were just not trying to better their lives... don't mean to put it callously- they were just a drain on community resources.

Reason I ask is because I feel called to ministering to those in the same situation as I was and are trying to better their lot. I don't think I would have the desire or endurance to deal with people that don't want to try though.

What should the christian attitude be on this?

[Edial]

Whatever you have done to the least vs.. God helps them who help themselves.

Good morning, family...

Trying to reconcile my personal feeling that God will help us if we take initiative and show we want/need help, versus going out of my way to assist someone that has no desire to change things.

As an illustration, there was a point in my life that I was homeless... literally on the streets (2 years out of 4). During that time I ran into several people that were just not trying to better their lives... don't mean to put it callously- they were just a drain on community resources.

Reason I ask is because I feel called to ministering to those in the same situation as I was and are trying to better their lot. I don't think I would have the desire or endurance to deal with people that don't want to try though.

What should the christian attitude be on this?
Well, for starters, there is no such verse that I know of where it states that God helps those that help themselves.

However, there is a strong text where it states that if one refuses to work, one does not eat.
2TH 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

I would say that the attitude should be to help people become "fishermen", instead of always giving them fish to eat.

Now, having said that, I realize that there are homeless who do not choose it as a way to go, but got trapped in there.
And that is temporary.

I live in New York City, Queens.
And they have many programs that help the homeless to get out of this habit.
(And I realize that drugs and alchohol keep many of them homeless, of course).

But if a person does not want to get out, he/she won't.

Jesus asked the lame person "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:5).
For the begging people 2000 years ago, having a handicap was a way of earning money through begging.
The lame guy said, "Yes, I want to get well."
And he was made well.

Christian attitude is to help the helpless while encouraging them to start walking on their on.
Once they choose not to, there is nothing else a Christian can do, but to move on to the next person.

Thanks,
Ed

[ProdigalSeeker]

Thanks, Ed. As always your answers are informative and enlightening.
:thumbsup:

[JoeCatch]

Ed is right; "God helps those who help themselves" is not found in the bible. That's a saying that Benjamin Franklin came up with, and he certainly was not a Christian. By way of a humorous aside, this thread does remind me of a profile I once read on a Christian singles Web site. One of the essay questions was simply, "what are some of your favorite bible verses/passages?" The profile I'm remembering listed two: "God helps those who help themselves" and the "Footprints" poem. 0 for 2 as far as actually being in the bible is concerned! It wouldn't have been so bad, except that the person in question also stated in that essay that she was a faithful bible reader who took great joy and comfort in her (alleged) familiarity with its teachings.

Insofar as helping the homeless is concerned, ProdigalSeeker, as you likely well know, many are mentally ill. It's easy for us to say that the person has to want help, has to be willing to do X, Y and Z for himself, etc., but the sad fact is that in an overwhelming number of cases the homeless person in question simply doesn't have the sort of practical reasoning skills to make those connections that come so easily to the rest of us. So what do we do about the many thousands of homeless who so clearly need help, but through no fault of their own don't want it? I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that.

Note here that I'm not talking about any who do have the wherewithall to get out of their situation but don't; many of these remain homeless for reasons that strike me as being just downright silly (they fancy themselves "anarchists" or some such nonsense). I've met some of these homeless people too, and find myself having a great deal of trouble having any sympathy for them whatsoever. At the very least, after all, they could go join a commune and continue to be productive--and even actively fight for the social changes that they see are necessary--even if they do want to disassociate themselves from capitalist American society. No political ideology, not anarchism or even socialism or communism, holds up refusal to work and draining resources as virtues.

But for those who are truly needy (e.g., suffering untreated mental illness that, in many cases, renders them unfit for regular work), I think clearly we have an obligation to help them. The same goes for those who have fallen on hard times and just don't have a family support system. A previously productive worker in an urban environment could find her- or himself homeless with a matter of a month or so if a sudden job loss were to spring up out of nowhere. What form should this assistance take? I do not know. There truly are no easy answers to such systemic problems. God's blessings to you, ProdigalSeeker, as you explore the possibility of being called to minister to those who find themselves in this terrible (and unimaginable for the majority of us) situation.

[jcj3803]

Christian attitude is to help the helpless while encouraging them to start walking on their own. Once they choose not to, there is nothing else a Christian can do, but to move on to the next person.



Indeed. Homelessness is a complex, multifactorial issue. But it never ceases to amaze me when I see homeless in Chicago asking for money for food while they smoke a cigarette.

[ProdigalSeeker]

That bothers me as well. That's why I think if I am really called for this type of ministry they need to be serious or not waste my time.

[AngelusSax]

I don't think it's ever a complete waste of time. All you can do as a helper is help, to give what is needed. What they do with what is given is between them and God, but what you do for them, or not do, is between you and God (and them to a lesser degree)

[Luther073082]

Personally though I agree "God helps those who help themselves" isn't in the bible, it could be applied to "We help those who help themselves." If a person wants to work, we can help find them work and assist them while they are trying to find work as long as we can confirm that is what they are doing. If its apparent they don't want to work then we won't help them until they do want to work. We'll help you up, but we're not going to hold you up.

[AngelusSax]

Of course, in that should always be prayerful discernment to see if someone is simply choosing not to work because they're lazy, or if there's some psychological underlying factor going on that has them too depressed to think work would do any good.

Then we can still help, though our focus would shift from, say, money to get through tough times, to counseling (either us counseling if we're qualified and/or led by the Spirit, or pointing them in the direction of a counselor).