Care for the Needy

Deuteronomy 15:7   If among you there is a needy one amidst your brothers within any of your gates in your land, which Jehovah your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart and you shall not close up your hand from your needy brother;

15:8   But you must open your hand to him, and you must lend enough for his need in whatever he lacks.

15:10  You must give to him, and your heart shall not be displeased when you give to him; for on account of this matter Jehovah your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

15:11  For the needy will not cease being in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, You must open your hand to your brother, to the poor one with you and to the needy one with you in your land.

The principle set up by God in the Old Testament still holds true with the New Testament saints too in taking care of the poor and needy saints. As a Christian and even as a human being we must be humane yet divine in caring for the needy people, especially the needy saints. 

COVID-19, the global pandemic, has thrown millions into joblessness and a good number of our new ones and their relatives got affected too. As the church in Gurugram, we cannot turn a blind eye to the new ones we are shepherding. This is a good time to show brotherly love in words and deeds too to the needy saints. 

I have been fellowshipping with and shepherding a brother daily. Through the shepherding, he has become more and more open to fellowship his personal matters and whatever the Lord touched him to open up to me. As a brother, I listened to all that he has to say and bring it for fellowship with my fellow brothers with whom I am coordination for the church life. In fellowship, we felt it was the Lord's doing to help the needy ones in a wise way. Not to give them an impression of the church helping whenever they need help but in a hidden way of shepherding help. Therefore, we started to help a brother and his relatives at least for their basic needs of food for survival during this time. For they have lost their jobs and their future is very uncertain. Though we are not rich in ourselves either, we feel good to help within our capacity and take care of the needy saints.

I personally was helped by the brothers' fellowship to take care of the timely needs of the needy saints. As brothers in the church, we even fellowshipped week by week to see if there is any needy saints that need timely help. We all brothers agreed in one accord to help the needy saints sufficiently, not luxuriously. The Lord even burdened some saints to offer specifically for this need. 

What a joy indeed to be able to care for the needy saints! The joy of the one who received help is our joy too. This helping of the needy saints is not to receive blessing from the Lord as promised in the word. We leave that matter to the Lord. But our rightful responsibility is to help according to the Lord's leading.

You must open your hand to your brother, to the poor one with you and to the needy one with you in your land.