Are You An Enabler? 6/11/2017

Good Morning,

Oh how nice it is to be sitting on the patio in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt drinking my morning cup of Door County Swedish Lingonberry Tart Coffee. This is nice! I pray your day begins as nicely as mine, if not better.

In this world we will find that there are many people with many different needs. It is our Christian duty to help those people when we can. You will never hear me argue against it. We are to love one another and share. This is elementary Christianity at it's best. I for one have been on both ends of the spectrum. I have received and I have given. Both were a blessing.

1 Timothy 5:22King James Version (KJV)
²² Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.

But there comes a point when we need to ask ourselves if were are helping or are we enabling a weakness. For instance, parents often help their children out financially with a dollar or two from time to time. This is normal and accepted behavior. But when it becomes a habit and Junior finds it easier to ask and receive than go to work, we have enabled a habit of laziness. Now we can all be duped now and then also. We give money to friends and relatives who are in need, only to find that the money is going to pay for drug or alcohol abuse. When we continue to support this habit we are an enabling the sickness and sin to continue. To “enable” sin is to embolden someone to continue in sin, to empower his ability to sin, or to make it easier for him to sin. In our stand for righteousness, we want to avoid enabling the sins of others. Human relationships can be complex, and there are many situations that can lead to involuntary participation in the sin of another. In a marriage, one spouse can be drawn into sin in an effort to appease the other. Friends and family are the avenues that Satan often uses to entice us to participate in a sin we would otherwise avoid

I was driving to a store the other day and saw a young man holding a sign stating that he was homeless and in need of assistance. I stopped and I legitimately had $100 dollars worth of light work needed at our home. I was willing to take him the short distance and pay him for about 6 hours of light yard work. He looked physically able. I proposed the offer and he politely declined and said that he had no need for work, he just needed some quick cash. He put his hand out and I shook it, prayed for him and left. I would have enabled a panhandler.

I have begun a practice that I should have adopted a long time ago. Before I hand out anything, I stop for a moment to pray and ask God for wisdom. It might of helped me when I stopped to give money to a blind man begging for money. Only to come out from my appointment to see him riding away on a bicycle. It is amazing how they can teach a blind man to ride a bicycle in heavy traffic.

I was taught at an early age to work and pay my bills and not to expect or to rely on hand outs. We do need to help, but we must also be willing to say no, when our help enables sin or laziness. If we are in a position to offer work and the needy one can do so, we should offer work and be willing to work along  with them. If we can teach someone to work or learn a skill we should do so. There is an old saying, "Give a man a fish and you fed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him forever."

Friends, walk a fine line, with open eyes and a generous heart. Be part of a solution not a part of the problem.

Marty