Begging on the street corner

Poverty, homelessness and begging or what we call panhandling is something that is pushed aside and forgotten about either on purpose or not. I believe society thinks if we cannot see them, hear them, or smell them then they do not exist. Well the sad thing is they are there and just like in our day and age, the poor and the beggars in Bible days were ignored just as much.

I do understand that one person by themselves can’t change the whole world concerning these three topics but if each one of us reaches out to one of these so called, “undesirables”. Do you know how many people would be helped? In no way are we saying give money to everyone you see that is needy because we all know you cannot give an alcoholic or drug addict cash money because they will never buy food or the things they need. There are some that are just conning everyone. You could on the other hand buy them a couple items from the value menu at any fast food place and just hand it to that person you want to reach out to. On the other hand, give to a food bank or you can give clothes you do not wear any longer to a clothes closet, even if it’s just a couple of cans of vegetables or a few pieces of clothing. It all adds up when you put it all together.

It all comes down to one thing. You being just one can give a lot when there are all together thousand’s of just ones like you. Everyone has the potential to be in a situation when they need help. So when you have abundance and you give, hopefully others will do the same and there will be help for when or if you may need it.

Not all panhandlers want to get off the streets but we can show them by our actions that some people really do care about them. If we all put it off and say, “Someone else will do it.” There will not be very much helping. Won’t you be one of them that shares what you have with others even if it is just smile or a hello. Those will go a long ways. And be honest with them and say you don’t have what they need right now. And most will be polite and say, Thank you anyway. Have a nice day. If we all could be like that?

I Samuel 2:8 (NKJV)

8. He raises the poor from the dust

And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.

“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,

And He has set the world upon them.

Proverbs 6:30 (NKJV)

30. People do not despise a thief

If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.

Proverbs 14:20 (NKJV)

20. The poor man is hated even by his own neighbor,

But the rich has many friends.

Proverbs 19:4 (NKJV)

4. Wealth makes many friends,

But the poor is separated from his friend.

Proverbs 19:7 (NKJV)

7. All the brothers of the poor hate him;

How much more do his friends go far from him!
He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him.

Mark 10:46 (NKJV)

46. Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.

Luke 16:19-21 (NKJV)

19. "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
20. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 

21. desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

Acts 3:2 (NKJV)

2. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;

Acts 3:10 (NKJV)

10. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

I Corinthians 4:11 (NKJV)

11. To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.