Support the weak

I have shown you in every way, by labouring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” – Acts 20.35

Paul’s last words in his last address to the Ephesians are interesting. There are all kinds of things he might have said like ‘fight the good fight’ or ‘stay faithful’ or ‘don’t quit.’ Any of those would have been great advice.

Instead though Paul said ‘Support the weak’ and ‘it is more blessed to give than receive.’ His last words stressed the importance of caring for others.

That is something I hardly ever heard about for most of my Christian life. It seems like some folks confused is with the ‘social gospel’ which de-emphasised the gospel of salvation only through Christ and replaced it with social good works. Than confusion meant a lot of times we just forgot about caring for the poor and weak and giving to the needy.

The thing is that the two go hand in hand. We care for the weak by sharing the gospel and by meeting their needs and supporting them and giving to meet their needs. We don’t pick one or the other – we do both. That’s why Paul included it in his challenge.

I am still learning and trying to apply the lessons of giving today. May God give me more wisdom in this new year.