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Why Give to the Undeserving?

 
We've all wondered at one time or another just how much good our good deeds accomplish. We know we should persevere in doing good no matter what the cost, but what good do our tireless acts of righteousness really do for the people we try to help? Do we really do the homeless a favor by giving to them, if they'll probably waste the money on substance abuse? How many souls will we really save by witnessing or handing out tracts?

There's a reason why Jesus told us to give to the poor and needy, even though he knew some of them would squander their alms. There's a reason why the Holy Spirit compels us to try to reach all the lost souls we can, any way we can. My good friend Delton Gibbs, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in Arkansas, e-mailed me the following insightful explanation:

I was teaching Bible this morning and was telling the students about storing up treasure in heaven. One young man asked me how you store up treasure in heaven, and I told him about the man that came up to Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, and the man said he had from a child, and then asked Jesus what else he lacked. Jesus told him to sell what he had and give it to the poor and he would have treasure in heaven. The man walked away sorrowful because he had great possessions. So, I told them the way for treasure is to give to the poor. The question then came up, what if the person was unworthy and bought drugs or booze with the money? I told them that if only one in 10 people you helped was someone the lord gave you treasure for, then that one would make the rest worthwhile. Many won't give for fear that they will give to someone undeserving. I gave them an example of when I was selling insurance, I gave away a free gift to those that entered a give away at the fair. If I gave away 10 gifts and only 3 bought and I made $1000 for those 3, then I would still be averaging $100 for every gift I gave away whether they bought or not. So, if I paid $2 for the gift, I would be making $98 on every single gift I gave away. So, rather than worry about the 7 that didn't buy, I would rejoice over the 3 that did. In the same way, if I help 1,000 poor people and only receive a reward for 200, the 800 won't even matter because the reward for 200 will be so worth it.

It's the same way with tracts or witnessing. If I only lead one soul to the Lord per 500 tracts or 1 per 100 people I talk to, if I pass out enough tracts or talk to enough people, if in the end I've only led 1000 people to the lord, the 499,000 I've witnessed to that didn't respond will be water under the bridge. The 1,000 that came in would be worth all my time and effort.

And, if those 1000 believers bring in an average of 50 people in their life time (some 30, some 60, some 100), then that 1000 would become 50,000 souls.

The moral of the story is to keep on giving, keep on witnessing, and keep on serving the lord, for in due season we shall reap, "If we faint not."

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