Gotta promo for these awesome people:
Full video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcsejnx0zD4
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Question 431537:
Thank you for this site which has been of great help to me in my spiritual journey. I reference the article on giving to the poor (http://goo.gl/C8QfIU).
To put things in context, I currently am a 22 year old from Singapore currently serving in youth ministry discipling teenagers. Combined with studying in a local university, I find myself with limited time and energy to take on more things.
At the same time, I see how there are the poor and needy are all around, and I often feel that I am not doing enough for them. I do spend some time to engage the ones who come to worship with us, but how useful is that?
We all have different ministries which God has placed us in to serve, and I don't see myself leaving what I am currently doing to dedicate my time in serving the poor through social work. However, this article seems to suggest that the fruit we bear should be directly related to helping the poor. How do I reconcile helping the poor and juggling my various other responsibilities? To what extent should we be giving our lives to this work? Beyond the basics of giving financially, is serving the poor a work that all Christians must do?
Thank you for reading this and I hope to hear from you soon!
Answered by: David
Hello and thank you for your question. You are correct, the Bible does speak of serving the poor.
“But if anyone has the world`s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God`s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:17-18)
“Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)
These two verses are only a couple of examples in which the Bible speaks of serving the poor or giving to the needy. It sounds like you do have a lot on your plate. You are serving the church and you are going to school full time. I think your conscience is speaking to you about the poor. Perhaps you will be led in this direction one day for a ministry vocation?
I am unsure what you are studying. However, I definitely believe you need to concentrate on your studies in order to give more to Gods kingdom. This is not a salvation issue we are discussing. It simply appears that you are convicted to help the poor and needy. Of course, genuine Christians bring forth good fruit.
When I was in school, I had very little resources. I could barely provide for my own family (in fact I needed assistance). Once I graduated and obtained employment, I was able to start giving more generously towards those in need. Assisting the poor can be via financial resources and actual serving missions. Perhaps volunteering your time once a week or once a month at a homeless shelter would assist you in your calling/conviction. Maybe you could befriend an individual and serve as their mentor/friend?
Overall, I feel as if your intentions are great and admirable. However, I do not think you need to be disappointed in yourself. In closing, this could be God placing His will into your life. I would seek pastoral advice/counseling regarding a potential calling into this field of ministry.
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It doesn't fully answer the questions I had in my head, but that's really a function of how I didn't explain fully the issue at hand in the first place (there's too much context to go into if I really wanted to so I simplified my question).
I wish my intentions are really 'great and admirable' heh, but they're not. Truthfully, I am more of one trying to escape but cannot do it against his conscience.
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I really do appreciate the time taken by these fellas to answer the questions. The thing I like most about the site is how their answers are biblically based and well supported. Of course for a personal question like this there a limit to how many verses you can support it with, but the main site has many questions which has answers which are filled with references.
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Full video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcsejnx0zD4
---
Question 431537:
Thank you for this site which has been of great help to me in my spiritual journey. I reference the article on giving to the poor (http://goo.gl/C8QfIU).
To put things in context, I currently am a 22 year old from Singapore currently serving in youth ministry discipling teenagers. Combined with studying in a local university, I find myself with limited time and energy to take on more things.
At the same time, I see how there are the poor and needy are all around, and I often feel that I am not doing enough for them. I do spend some time to engage the ones who come to worship with us, but how useful is that?
We all have different ministries which God has placed us in to serve, and I don't see myself leaving what I am currently doing to dedicate my time in serving the poor through social work. However, this article seems to suggest that the fruit we bear should be directly related to helping the poor. How do I reconcile helping the poor and juggling my various other responsibilities? To what extent should we be giving our lives to this work? Beyond the basics of giving financially, is serving the poor a work that all Christians must do?
Thank you for reading this and I hope to hear from you soon!
Answered by: David
Hello and thank you for your question. You are correct, the Bible does speak of serving the poor.
“But if anyone has the world`s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God`s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:17-18)
“Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)
These two verses are only a couple of examples in which the Bible speaks of serving the poor or giving to the needy. It sounds like you do have a lot on your plate. You are serving the church and you are going to school full time. I think your conscience is speaking to you about the poor. Perhaps you will be led in this direction one day for a ministry vocation?
I am unsure what you are studying. However, I definitely believe you need to concentrate on your studies in order to give more to Gods kingdom. This is not a salvation issue we are discussing. It simply appears that you are convicted to help the poor and needy. Of course, genuine Christians bring forth good fruit.
When I was in school, I had very little resources. I could barely provide for my own family (in fact I needed assistance). Once I graduated and obtained employment, I was able to start giving more generously towards those in need. Assisting the poor can be via financial resources and actual serving missions. Perhaps volunteering your time once a week or once a month at a homeless shelter would assist you in your calling/conviction. Maybe you could befriend an individual and serve as their mentor/friend?
Overall, I feel as if your intentions are great and admirable. However, I do not think you need to be disappointed in yourself. In closing, this could be God placing His will into your life. I would seek pastoral advice/counseling regarding a potential calling into this field of ministry.
---
It doesn't fully answer the questions I had in my head, but that's really a function of how I didn't explain fully the issue at hand in the first place (there's too much context to go into if I really wanted to so I simplified my question).
I wish my intentions are really 'great and admirable' heh, but they're not. Truthfully, I am more of one trying to escape but cannot do it against his conscience.
---
I really do appreciate the time taken by these fellas to answer the questions. The thing I like most about the site is how their answers are biblically based and well supported. Of course for a personal question like this there a limit to how many verses you can support it with, but the main site has many questions which has answers which are filled with references.