Charity or Cadgering?

 In this festive season of the year, it is more than desirable that those of with means should make some provision for the poor and destitute; or whatever it was the Charles Dickens wrote in "A Christmas Carol".  As a pastor, I am always more than happy to assist with charitable endeavors when they are undertaken in goodwill; however there are trends in "charity" which are increasing in popularity and insanity each year.  

The first trend is people making demands of charity.  Not in the sense of people asking for assistance who are truly in need of it, mind you; but those who, when faced with a gift from the heart, turn it aside and demand something else instead.  For example, when you see a person on the street corner with a sign "homeless and hungry, anything will help" and you bring them food; yet they yell at you and demand cash instead.  This is enough to put many people off the idea of giving to those in need; because if your sign you hold claims you're hungry and you deny someone the chance to bring you a basic necessity, then you really aren't in need of charity.  People who make outright DEMANDS of charity are the bane of charity; because they feel that they somehow deserve to be pampered by those who do not wish people to suffer because of poverty or destitution. I myself have witnessed this too many times to count; and it always sickens me.  We see this happening with (unfortunately) a large number of illegal immigrants who have been imported to this nation at taxpayer expense over the past 4 years.  They are provided with clothing, schooling, accomodation in nicer hotels and shelters than the residential homeless receive; and yet they demand that they are not getting "enough" from others.  In New York city until recently, illegal immigrants who were being housed at hotels in the city were given debit cards with hundreds of dollars a week; because they complained that the free food being provided for them at their shelter, wasn't 'good enough'.  If you are truly in need, truly hungry, truly desperate for help; you have no moral right to demand things of the people who extend a hand to you in friendship in charity.  Quite the reverse; you have the moral obligation to accept their gifts, for they are offered in love and charity.  "In need" can never excuse ill behavior of those who exploit charity by making selfish demands of those who give out of the goodness of their hearts.

The second trend is that of obligatory charity to foreign nationals and nations.  There is the insane idea out there that somehow just because it's a poor person in another country, that they are somehow infinitely more deserving and needing of help than the homeless man who you pass by on the way to work each morning.  Here in the States, we seem to want to export our problems so that we don't need to face them ourselves.  Yes, we are expected and encouraged, to give our dollars to help feed the starving child in Africa; yet not a dime is considered, not a tear shed, for the starving child in Appalachia.  Our government is no stranger to this either: constantly demanding that senior citizens contribute more and more, taxing their retirement benefits and social security; while sending the money to foreign  nations such as Ukraine to provide pensions for foreign nationals.  The federal government is so concerned with whether or not a Ukrainian grandmother can retire comfortably, than they are with whether or not an American grandmother can afford to pay her bills.  They expect American taxpayers to foot the bill for what would have, in previous centuries; been left to philanthropic societies and churches to take care of.  In making charity obligatory by means of taxation; they have removed the heart of charity and replaced it with a cudgel, used to beat dissenting persons into submission.  Yet when you divorce the nature of charity from its work; you remove the ability for persons to obtain any true fruit from it, either on the part of the giver or receiver.   Newsflash to politicians and progressive thinkers: people in foreign lands are not more deserving of charity just because they're foreign.  No, the truth is that the leftists and progressives here have fetishized the foreign poor, because they hate their own countrymen.  

Charity must begin with the heart of the giver, and must be something that is done in love, not obligation.  If we turn all charitable endeavors and works to obligation, then we remove the love that people have for their fellow man.  This is why obligatory giving breeds discontent and hatred: because it has removed the heart from charity and replaced it with force.  You will find more good done if people are given the opportunity to express the love in their hearts, than you will by forcing them to give money constantly for whatever project you think they need to contribute to.  And yes, allowing people to give from the heart benefits both parties more than cold gifts of cash; because to builds relationships of mutual support and affection, for we are reminded of each others' humanity and dignity. 

Don't sacrifice dignity or humanity by forced charity; give from the love that is in your heart, and allow yourself to see a brother, sister, mother, and even our own Divine Lord- all in the face of those you help.