Does 1 John 3.17 mean we should meet every benevolence need?

from BorrowedLight by Mike Leake

It’s the Christmas season.Which also means that its get-50-calls-per-day-for-financial-assistance season. And if I’m being honest its difficult at times not to get annoyed or close my heart to these very real needs.

In my better times I believe my frustration is not evil. I’m frustrated with the sin of the sluggard. I’m frustrated because the dude that ought to be spilling his blood to help out this pleading woman in my office is out in the car smoking Marlboros and making her do the hard things. I’m angry at injustice, at poverty, at brokenness, at the way that sin has a tendency to ravage families for generations.

And some days I just have a cold heart…

It’s on those cold-hearted days that 1 John 3:17 does work on me:

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 ESV)

The Qualifiers

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