To Help, or not to Help
“Should you help the wicked…?”
The Lord Jesus teaches us to love our God, our neighbors and even our enemies. He commands us to help our neighbors in any way we can, especially if they are brothers and sisters in Christ.
Based on this biblical command, I will try to help my neighbor anyway I can. I pray that God places me in situations where I can help others, including helping them to get to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. However, as a prospective “good Samaritan” I need to be aware of two dangers:
First of all, we should remember that we are not, nor will we ever be God. Whatever help we can, and will offer, as good as it may be, is limited. The second danger has nothing to do with the people we help, but rather the purpose and the results of our help. We should try to help everybody we can but we can’t help them in everything.
A legend is told of a very generous Christian man. Every Wednesday this brother would fill his truck with soft drinks, take it to a small warehouse and hand out free sodas. While distributing the drinks a beggar approached him asking for something to drink. Filled with compassion, he was more than willing to give the poor man what he wanted.
Every Wednesday thereafter, the beggar would show up and the brother would give him something to drink. One day he discovered that the beggar would leave with the soda and exchange it for a beer. From that day on there were no more free sodas.
This story serves to remind us that we are not to help others sin. If we help a sinner in need, we do right. If we help him sin, we sin right along with him.
