Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
If you work a full-time, mimimum-wage job you will receive $15,600 per year, which makes you in the top 11% richest people in the world.
The United Way lists on their website what a small donation from each week's paycheck can do to help someone:
$1 per week ($52 a year) supplies:
- Twenty weeks of lunches for a homeless person
- Three hours of respite care for a cancer patient
- Three flu shots for an uninsured senior citizen
$5 per week ($260 a year) buys:
- Pneumonia vaccinations for ten senior citizens
- Fifty-two home safety education kits for families with young children
- A week of groceries for three four-person families
$10 a week ($520 a year) ensures:
- Fifteen cases of nutritional supplements for HIV and AIDS patients
- Six months of health education and awareness for the refugee community
- Training for one volunteer to work with the terminally ill
$25 a week ($1,300 a year) provides:
- One hundred hours of counseling for assisted-living residents
- Psychological evaluation services for 24 special-needs children
- One week feeding and care for approximately 800 disaster victims
(This is not an endoresment for The United Way, but it is just an example to see what a small amount of money can do to help)
We need to give knowledge.
We need to give ourselves and our time.
Just becuase you give money, it doesn't mean that it will always go to where it was supposed to or that the thing purchased with it will actually help someone. So why give? One reason, is that we have been commanded to give, but another reason is that when we give, we actually help ourselves.
Often we are afraid to give because we already don't have enough to meet the needs.
There are few times that I've received any money from people in Tanzania, but two of those times I received money from one lady that had almost nothing. I didn't really need her money, but she still wanted to give.
Psalms 41:1-2 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
Pro 14:21 He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.
Pro 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
The widow woman that gave Elijah the little she had never went without.