CHARITY: Opportunity, Obligation, or Obedience?

They stand on the street corners of every major city across America; clothes dirty, a hastily scrawled, hand-written sign, "Out of Work" . . . or "Stranded. Need Gas Money" . . . or "Homeless - with Children to Feed."

I hate seeing them there as I pull up waiting for the light to turn green. I try to avoid eye contact.

Maybe if I look away they won't really be there.

The $20 is starting to burn a hole in my pocket, the smoke clouding up my judgement. Do I pray for the light to change faster . . . or surrender to the guilt, dive into my pocket and fork over the money I can afford to give away.

For me it's really not a question about compassion. There are just too many unanswered questions about this person's situation that are impossible to know in the one minute stop at the traffic light.

And the person behind the sign knows that, too. They are counting on the obligation of compassion to pressure total strangers into an non-involvement, impersonal monetary donation.

Sound cynical?

Several years ago, a friend in St. Petersburg, Florida made it a habit to stop and offer either a meal or days work for the street beggars. Most he found were in genuine need. These he could also steer to other community and church assistance.

But it was the small number of cons which seemed to stand out. Knowing America's tendency toward impersonal generosity, they drifted town to town, street corner to street corner, North to South in search of better weather. One man told my friend, "Look, I don't need your help. Just get away before anyone sees you. I can make $15-to-$20 thousand a year tax free, street begging."

So what do you do, if you have strong spiritual convictions as I do about following God in my finances and instructions to help the poor and needy?

If you're typically religious, I can hear someone shouting, "W-W-J-D?"

What Would Jesus Do? -- a God-junkie like me. Now why didn't I think of that?

There is a missions project at the church to feed and clothe the homeless . . . .

A TV program shows you the bloated stomachs of children half-a-world away, makes an appeal for a monthly pledge to ease the suffering . . .

Your minister announces a new church program that needs volunteers, no experience necessary . . .

As you stand in line at a convenience store, you're prompted to give the cashier the $50 you have in your wallet, for no explainable reason . . .

An engaging speaker makes an appeal for help on a short-term trip to a poverty-stricken Indian reservation . . .

W-W-J-D?

I recently found something interesting in John chapter 16 where Jesus told a group of confident, busy followers there would be a time when they would be so preoccupied with the difficulties in their lives they would leave Him alone. Then I read in My Utmost For His Highest:

"Many Christians...have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning our own discernment."  Oswald Chambers

Hmmmm. Duty - Obligation - Good Intentions. That did seem to strike a cord with me. Quite honestly, this seems to be a common thread in confidential conversations I've had with a number of church folk.

Truth be told, most of us were allowing ourselves to be manipulated by either emotional appeal or making our own best commonsense decisions based on Bible study-based understanding of W-W-J-D, THEN asking God to bless our actions.

You see, we really have a poor understanding of what Jesus did do - AND a misconception that the Bible is a handbook for daily living. We will never find specific instructions within those pages about every situation we face.

Jesus said He never did anything which He did not see or hear His Father tell Him. (John 5:19-21) When He saw or heard of a need, instead of reacting, He went to the Father, saw what He was to do, and responded with the Holy Spirit backing Him up with  powerful life changes.

Perhaps Jesus BELIEVED the truth of Proverbs 3:5-6 -- "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's Voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track." (The Message Bible)

The Business of Religion wants to keep us busy, guilt-driven, filling-in-the-blanks for their latest best "Ideas For God." They've trained us to have the knee-jerk reactions to make our own common sense decisions and then ask God to bless them.

"He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. Doing it out of duty is trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. . . But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation--just obedience, That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood." Oswald Chambers

Jesus was certainly ridiculed and misunderstood by the Business of Religion profiteers of His day. They ridiculed for who He had dinner with. Then, how He was eating with His disciples. He was criticized for acts of kindness and healing on the wrong day. Even Jesus's best friends chastised Him for not doing miracles fast enough, on their time-table.

So the pressure is off. my friend, from the God side of things. You're not going to please everyone with a hand stretched out, a good sob story, or an agenda to be filled. Don't expect to be understood by the Business of Religion who counts on your unquestioning allegiance.

There's a joy and freedom instead when keeping an eye and ear open to the heart of God. Another friend found himself in line at that convenience store the other day when he had the prompt to give the cash in his pocket to the cashier after paying for his gas by credit card.

"I need to give you something," he told the wary clerk who had cashed him out. "This happens to me from time to time, when I ask God to make me sensitive.

"This is not charity, this is obedience," he said passing her the $100 bill. "This is God's answer to what's going on in your life."  He turned, walked out, leaving a stunned, teary-eyed young woman.

He didn't need to know what the money was an answer to. "Even if I miss the mark," he says, "at least I've helped to make someone's day a little brighter."

The Business of Religion - Charity Guilt Giving (Part Eight)