Give And Do Not Refuse

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:42‬ ‭

A Right Heart

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus is addressing the issues that plague the heart.  Real heart issues that really have an effect on how we treat others and how we live our lives publicly and privately.  Most of the issues that Jesus covered are issues that most people have when they are selfish and motivated by self pleasing ambitions.

Jesus says to give to the those who beg and don’t refuse to lend to those who ask to borrow.  The heart issue here deals with greed.  Most of the time we are not quick to give or lend because we have a greedy mindset.  When it comes to our personal possessions we tend to get very selfish.  When someone comes to us with a need and we have the means to meet that need we should be quick to help.  Most of the time we want information that we should not necessary need.  For example we ask a lot of questions when someone wants to borrow money and we test to see if it is really a need or not.  What Jesus is getting to in this idea is that when we have a brother or sister in Christ who needs our help we should be willing to help them quickly.

If we see a person who is in need we should be quick to help them before they ever ask for help.  1 John 3:17 says, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in Him?”  If we see someone in need we need to meet that need.  The issue lies in the heart.  Are you more concerned with your possessions or serving God?

Prayer

Lord, show me someone who needs my help.  Let me be quick to see the need before they ever ask for help.  Thank you for blessing me with what I have.