There is much in the Bible about helping the poor. Matthew 25 tells us that when we help "the least of these" we are helping Christ. James 1 tells us that pure religion is to look after the widows and orphans. The story of the good samaritan was in answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" The answer was basically anyone who has a need we can help with.
I certainly don't come close to having all of this figured out. It is easy when a widow, single mother, or child who is part of our church family presents a need. We know the person, we know some of the situation, and we can respond with confidence. It is the unknown person; that person who presents us with a need without any comfort of relationship that causes the difficulty. It would be nice to set a policy of not helping anyone who is not already in our community of believers, but Hebrews 13:2 tells us "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." So we have to take a chance sometimes. Sometimes we will be scammed. Sometimes we will entertain angels without knowing it. Most of the time we will not know which happened. The important thing is that we put ourselves out there. We took a chance.
Tomorrow I will give some practical tips that we have worked out here in the office.
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