Why Should I Give to Efforts for the Poor?
“Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
It is easy to think about giving to the poor as an optional expression of generosity. We give when we have extra. We help when a particular story moves us. We contribute when the need happens to cross our path.
Scripture presents something stronger.
God repeatedly calls His people to remember the poor—not merely to feel compassion for them, but to respond to their needs.
Remembering Means More Than Thinking
When Paul describes his meeting with the other apostles in Galatians 2, he says there was one particular request they made of him:
Remember the poor.
Paul's was already on it. Why? Because the Gospel helps:
“…the very thing I was eager to do.”
He did not regard care for the poor as a distraction from preaching the Gospel. He was eager to do it.
Biblical remembrance often results in action. If I know that my neighbor lacks something necessary and I possess the ability to help, remembering that person should affect what I do.
John puts the issue plainly:
“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?”— 1 John 3:17
The question is uncomfortable because it moves the issue from what they lack to what I possess.
I see a need.
I have resources.
What will I do?
God Has Always Been Concerned About the Poor
Concern for the poor does not suddenly appear in the New Testament.
God commanded Israel:
“You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.”— Deuteronomy 15:11
Proverbs says:
“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.”— Proverbs 19:17
And Jesus taught:
“Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”— Matthew 5:42
From the Law, through the wisdom literature, into the teaching of Jesus and the life of the early church, the pattern remains remarkably consistent.
God cares about how His people respond to people in need.
Giving Is Not the Gospel—but the Gospel Produces Givers
We must keep something important straight.
Helping the poor does not save us.
We are not reconciled to God because we donated money, bought someone groceries, paid someone's utility bill, or helped a struggling family.
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
But the grace that saves us changes us.
Paul writes:
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”— 2 Corinthians 8:9
Christian generosity ultimately begins there.
Jesus did not give us something because we deserved it. He gave Himself.
When we understand how generously God has dealt with us in Christ, generosity toward others stops being merely an obligation. It becomes a response to grace.
Sometimes Poverty Has a Face We Do Not Expect
When we hear the word poor, we may immediately picture hunger or homelessness.
Those needs are real. But poverty creates many other problems that are less visible.
It can be the mother who cannot afford a necessary repair.
It can be the elderly man choosing between medication and another expense.
It can be children sleeping in a home with a severe pest infestation because professional treatment costs more than their family can possibly afford.
Someone may have food in the refrigerator and still have a desperate need.
That matters because remembering the poor requires us to actually see people, rather than merely responding to our preconceived picture of poverty.
James asks:
“If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”— James 2:15–16
There are moments when prayer and encouraging words should be accompanied by something tangible.
A meal.
A hotel room.
A repaired furnace.
A treated home.
A financial gift.
An afternoon of labor.
Whatever the particular need may be, love asks a practical question:
What can I actually do?
Why Should I Give?
Not because every request for money is wise.
Not because every charitable organization deserves support.
Not because giving earns favor with God.
We give because God has given generously to us.
We give because God commands His people to care about the poor.
We give because our possessions are resources entrusted to us by God.
We give because love becomes visible through action.
And we give because sometimes God has placed something in our hands that can relieve a burden someone else simply cannot carry alone.
The question, then, is not merely:
“How much am I required to give?”
A better question may be:
“What has God placed in my hands, and where can I use it to love my neighbor?”
Think About It
Do I think of helping the poor as a Christian responsibility or merely an optional act of generosity?
Are there needs I tend to overlook because they do not fit my picture of poverty?
Has God given me money, time, skills, equipment, influence, or other resources that could meet someone else's practical need?
When I encounter genuine need, is my first instinct to protect what I have or consider how I might help?
Does my generosity reflect the generosity I have received from Christ?
Prayer
Father, thank You for the grace You have shown me through Jesus Christ. Teach me to see people as You see them and not to close my heart when I encounter genuine need. Give me wisdom to use what You have entrusted to me faithfully. Make me willing not only to speak about love, but to demonstrate it through practical acts of generosity and service. Help me remember the poor and to be eager to do good when You place an opportunity before me. In Jesus' name, amen.
Put It Into Practice
Look at what God has already placed in your hands—your money, time, abilities, possessions, relationships, and opportunities.
Then consider one genuine need you know about.
Ask yourself:
“What could I do with what I already have to make this person's burden lighter?”
Then, where you are able, put that answer into action.
Check out our "Remembering the Poor" page to see how you can love your Ozark Neighbors in a God-honoring, Christ-exalting and life-changing way!