Don’t walk away when your neighbour needs help

Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person. Don’t tell your neighbour “Maybe some other time” or “Try me tomorrow” when the money’s right there in your pocket. Don’t figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbour when he’s sitting there trusting and unsuspecting. (Proverbs 3:27-29 MSG)

God has blessed you to be a blessing to your neighbour. That blessing could be in the form of giving a helping hands to your neighbour, putting a smile on a person’s face, giving food, clothes, money, etc to the poor or needy.

The wise man is advising us not to walk away from someone who needs help. Notice he said someone and not just some few people you know, or might have done you good before. it’s very common to see people who can work but have chosen to beg on our streets. This happened to me once at the entrance of KFC when one guy approached me that “can I get £1 for food“. I gave it to him. Surprisingly this same guy came to me a week or two later around the same place with the same request “can I get £1 for food please” I laughed and gave him. I saw him there on different occasions and realized that was what he does for living. What I should have done that time was to inquire about his reason(s) for begging instead of working.
The point is God wants us to help our neighbours. Your neighbour is anybody who has flesh and bleeds red. it doesn’t matter his/her skin colour, church, religion, country he/she comes from, position, etc. When that person is hungry, feed him. When he needs shelter, help him. When he needs clothes, cloth him. The wise man said your hand is God’s hand for that person.

Friend, don’t tell your neighbor “Maybe some other time” or “Try me tomorrow” when the money’s right there in your pocket. Some of us try to consider some factors before giving to support their neighbours, probably because that person hurt them or defaulted in the past. The good news is we have a new life which requires us to overlook past mistakes and to see each day as an opportunity to show kindness to people around us. Don’t forget that your hand is God’s hand for that person.

I will conclude with this;