Thoughts About Helping Others

This past year has been an amazing but challenging year.

In God's Word we are told to bear one another's burdens (Gal. 6).  The church is described as a body (Rom. 12:3-5;  1 Cor. 10:31-33, 12:12-26) and of course, we are to take care of our body.  Some of the questions that I have been wrestling with involve how the church in the United States (US) can help the church in the Dominican Republic (DR).  There are many books of this and while I have read some of them, my years in the DR have been a continual learning experience when it comes to donations from the US.  Let's take the following example:  

A Dominican church has a $200 need.  As a church, they can save and it might take them months to raise that money.  But if an American team comes, the team might hear of the need and cover it.  Let's say this happens.  A few months later, the Dominican church has another need, so what do they do?  Some in the church start saving for the need but others might say "let's find an American team that can help us with this."  And so they do and the team generously covers the need praying God for the opportunity to help their Dominican brothers and sisters.  What happens when the church has another need?  Very quickly there is the danger of the church seeking American teams for all of their needs.  If this goes on for long, the Dominican church members may forget the need to give.  

Certainly we, Americans, are blessed to have a lot of material wealth.  Many Dominicans are materially poor.  I often wrestle with these questions, "How do we, Americans, use our resources to REALLY help?  And how do we help in a way that gives God the glory?" 

To be clear, I believe that most people who donate desire to give the glory to God.  And they desire to really help, often asking us good questions to be sure that they are bringing what is really needed and giving in a way that really helps.  The challenge I see is on this end - sometimes it seems that God is forgotten when the gifts are received and a need is met.  And as my example above shows, even well intentioned gifts have a danger of teaching people to see the materially rich instead of God.  

Some of the problems are - 

First, it is so easy to think that those who more have are better than those who don't have as much.  It is easy to judge people based on what they have. Second, it is so easy to relax when we have things and trust in those things. And third, it is so easy to believe that getting "this" or "that" will make everything better.

With each problem, our view of material possessions is flawed.  There is nothing about one person that makes them more deserving of having possessions than another.  In fact much of the inequality of wealth in this world is a result of our collective sin.  Everything we have comes from God and ultimately belongs to Him.  All these "things" are temporary and cannot be trusted.  Do we really believe that "stuff" is going to solve our problems or fill our souls?  I hope not.

These problems seem to be universal problems.  I have seen them in different cultures, with the materially rich and poor.  I can even think of stories in the Bible which convey these attitudes.

This past year, Becky and I have had the privilege of walking through some very tough and uncertain times for Pastor Alex and his wife, Carol.  If you haven't kept up with this story, you may want to read the entry "Lessons in Helping Others".  The lessons I shared in that entry were powerful for me and helped me to keep my focus on God.  They are:  

Lesson 1 - Go to God and ask Him to fix the problem.

Lesson 2 - Wait on the Lord and He will tell you what to do.

Lesson 3 - God is with us when things go well and when things don't go so well.  He is worthy of our praise regardless of the circumstances.  

Thinking about this past year, a few other thoughts come to mind -

1.  We glorify God with our gifts when we seek Him, asking Him to make clear what we should give and how we should give.  He will make this known.  

2.  I believe Christians should be generous.  Acts 20:35 instructs us:  In all things I (Paul) have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" The question for me isn't "should we help?" Rather it's "how should we help?" Certainly we want to ask good questions, we don't want to blindly give.  

3.  Could it be that God wants us to walk through tough times so that we might feel our need for Him deeply and so grow closer to Him?  While it's hard to admit, it appears so.  

I don't feel that I have answers, but I think it is good to raise these questions.  We have wrestled a lot with these things in a desire to make the most of our time and resources.  We realize the trust that many place in us when they give.  We know that many gifts are given sacrificially and our desire is to use them in a way that glorifies God.

If you have any thoughts on this, I would love to hear them!

Two books that have really challenged me in the area of Giving and Helping Others are:

The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert