Give to the one who begs from you

This excerpt was taken from Phillip Gibson's blog. I don't even really know how I stumbled upon his blog but I like what he said.

"You're walking down the street and cross the path of a man. He embodies the word "filthy" - even makes my usual shower habits appear as healthy. Hair in dreads, body untastefully tattooed, clothes not exactly made for Nordstrums Spring Catalogue, and as your pase quickens to pass by him as quickly as possible his mouth speratically utters a few words that shake off a few of the many dirt crums stuck in his unkempt beard. What I usually tend to do is pretend to stare off into space and pretend to have no knowledge of his existence except for maybe that one moment when your gaze meets his and you are forced to awkwardly extend a semi-cordial nod his way while purposefully ignoring the reality that he has something to say to you. Whether or not you can understand him is irrelevent because either way he is unheard. Either way an assumption is made of who he is, what he wants, and especially what he needs. I assume that I know what is necessary for this man to "succeed;" for him to "make something of himself." And thus my pre conceived bias drives me to no longer treat him as a man with value, but someone who is lacking what I THINK might be missing in his life.


Here is the moral of the story: When you listen to this man, when you take the time to connect and try to get on his level for 10 minues, and when you give him the chance to TELL YOU what he needs and what he really wants, you give him back his dignity and respect as a human being who has the ability to decide for himself what he needs. It's those little things that allow one to build a genuine relationship with this man - one from which both him and yourself can grow as equal human beings together."
 
Matthew 6:42 says "Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you." To me, that says "Give to the one who begs from you." [I'm very literal.] What I mean to say is, God does not call us to judge why someone begs from us. We are not told to withhold from someone because we think we understand their motives. Many times we tend to think that every person who begs is going to use any money given to them for drugs, alcohol, cigarettes; but surely there are also people who beg who actually do need to feed their families. Even more importantly, it seems so much more likely that a person who has their needs met in love will soften their heart toward the person who gives. What a great opportunity to present the Gospel! If they see our love through our giving [and our spending even a little time talking to them], Christ can show Himself through us.
 
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this.