Friday, August 10, 2012

To give or not to give and how much to give...That is the question?

Sometimes here in Mexico we watch many of our friends struggle to make ends meet and to have enough money to pay their bills. We have other friends who have more than sufficient resources and can afford to buy and live however they want. And then we have other friends that are in between. We can identify with them all, but just the mere fact that we are Americans means we have more than most. However, León is a huge modern city with lots of wealth as well as poverty. We have always tried to work with lower class as well as higher class people. Our desire has been to bring them together and have them help each other out. To some extent it has worked. This past week one of our friends in our group lent money to an other member in need and the one in need payed her back. Other times things are more messy and money gets in the way of friendships. Our constant struggle as we are living as the body of Christ, is to know when to give, and when not to give. We don't want to look like the rich Americans who are always giving money to our friends because we will and could get taken advantage of and cause other problems of dependency and alike. At the same time, we cannot sit there and watch our friends go without food when maybe we have some to share. Lately this has been a daily dilema for us as we have many friends who are not thriving financially. We continually ask God for guidance and discernment as to whom and when we should give. Should we give to the man that comes to our door saying he works as a trash collector and doesn't get payed enough? Do we give to the hundreds of beggars we see on the streets every time we are at a stoplight? Do we only give to our friends? How much? How often? We pray that God would guide us in this journey and that he would guide you too. Let us not be stingy with our resources, but be careful not to cause dependency as well. Only the Holy Spirit can give us the wisdom we need in order to make the right decisions concerning our money. Join us in praying for our friends' financial needs to be met and that we would have Christ's Spirit to make the correct decisions concerning money.