Grace Thru Faith has been such a blessing to me and I gain so much information from your knowledge of the scriptures. I have a question that has been bothering me for some time now. There are several people close to where I live who have not had a job in years and live on SSI. I am retired and live on SS and have cut expenses as much as possible but I still tithe. From time to time, one of these people will come to me and ask to ‘borrow’ money. I’m not a stingy person but when these people come to me for money, I feel like they think I’m a soft touch and I feel like I’m being used. Getting the ‘loan’ paid back isn’t the issue. I realize that our Lord wants us to be generous but when does being generous become being used?
Being generous becomes being used when your discernment tells you it is. Ask the Lord to make this clear to you. If you get confirmation that you’re being taken advantage of then direct your giving elsewhere. But remember, the attitude of the recipient is irrelevant to our giving just like it is to our forgiveness. We’re acting out of gratitude to the Lord, not to please man. He’ll hold them accountable for their actions.