Helping vs. Hurting Those in Need

John Wesley said, ​“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” Talk about social responsibility!

This morning I was reading something from Rick Warren and he said that we are not responsible FOR people but we are responsible TO people. This got me thinking about ways in which I have tried to be responsible TO people - helping them in any way I can. The challenge is to find the balance between doing things for people and expecting them to do it all for themselves. 

As a white, middle-class, American man, I am a member of undoubtedly the most privileged class in the world and with that come a great deal of responsibility. I’m amazed at how many people I encounter who believe that they are a product of their own hard work and don’t understand why people are struggling in this world. They are the cynics and would fall into the, “do it for yourself” category.

​ Then there are those who are the bleeding heart, mercy-minded people who, if the truth be told are probably more co-dependent than caring and compassionate. Those who believe that the poor need them are not doing anyone any good.

If your definition of poverty is defined by physical, emotional or spiritual lack then helping people depends on your ability to provide these things. Unfortunately when we try to provide for these deficiencies we only compound the problem. Poverty is about lack of relationships; access to people who are a voice for their plight. The lack of physical, emotional and spiritual things is only a product or fruit of lacking relationships that can reconcile people to themselves, their neighbor, their Creator and to all of creation.

When it comes to helping people, the key is in relationship. Personally, I am very reluctant to give anything to anyone with whom I don’t have some sort of relationship or affinity. I am much more likely to pay my friend’s electric bill than I am to drop money into a bucket of a man collecting funds for some cause at an intersection.

Here are a few questions that I ask myself before I jump in to “help” someone:

1. How well do I know this person; do I know someone who knows them?
2. Is my, “helping” giving them a hand up or a hand out?
3. Is this person taking personal responsibility to overcome their circumstances? 
4. What is the best use of my social, emotional, financial, spiritual capital in helping this person?
5. Am I giving out of pity or because I see myself as a partner in their plight?
6. If I don’t have what it takes to help them do I know someone who does?

It’s amazing how differently we look at people who are caught up in the cycles of poverty once we put a name to their face and we are personally invested in their lives. What are ways they you are helping those around you? You might be surprised at how many people are in need who live right down the street.