When authorities clash. Issues with submission.

Do not give money to beggars. They are a public safety risk.

Do not give money to beggars. They are a public safety risk.

Do not give money to beggars. They are a public safety risk.

This message was broadcast over the loudspeakers at Melbourne Central the other day, and I was horrified. What does this say about our society when we can't even give money to beggars?

I wasn't happy because giving to the poor is something my God commanded me to do, and it's something I enjoy doing as well. Arguments against it are, "Yeah, but they'll just spend it on drugs." God never told us to judge whether or not we should give based on what they were probably going to do with that gift. He quite simply told us to give.

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. Deuteronomy 15:7,11

He who despises his neighbor sins,but blessed is he who is kind to the needy. Proverbs 14:21

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18

These are just a few of the many, many verses about giving to the needy in the bible. The verses on giving cover a number of things, such as the blessings that come with giving, the fact that if you listen to those who cry out in need God in turn will listen to you, and that it is sinful to ignore the cries of the needy. Not once in the Bible does it say, "Give to the needy unless you know they're going to abuse what you give to them" or "Only give to people who don't look like they could be a public danger". We were called to give, not judge then give.

So in my heart I decided that I would give to beggars if they approached me at the station, in obedience to what Jesus commanded. And then later I realised that to do this while knowing my actions went against the authorities at the station was as much as sin to God as ignoring the poor was.

What to do? What to do?

I cannot compromise on God's Word. Therefore, I must submit to authorities unless they contradict God. In this case the authorities went against God's commands, so I feel quite justified in still giving to the poor. And yet I don't want to rebel either. Is there a way to obey God in both without compromising either of God's commands?

Solution? The thing is, giving doesn't necessarily have to be a monetary gift. I can still give, in obedience to God and love to others, while submitting to the authorities God has placed in my life.

So next time, rather than give a beggar money, maybe I'll buy them a cheeseburger =)

There were so many things I could have called this post

Such as You've got your dumb friends, I know what they say or You come over unannounced, dressed up like you're something else or Fall back, take a look at me, And you'll see I'm for real.

Detecting a theme? Let me help you out a bit more.

He was a skater boy, She said, 'See you later boy'

Hopefully now you get it. Well anyway, on Sunday a friend came and told me this:

"Hey, this new girl in my life group, she goes to "insert university here". She said you look like an Avril Lavigne wannabe."

We laughed about it, I pretended to be offended, and I was admittedly a little bit freaked out that some person I didn't even know was making comments like this about me.

Nineteen hours later, when I'm grieving over my hair, it all comes back to me. I was thinking:

Desperado

=

?

And then I thought, "Well, that's kind of cool. Someone I don't even know thinks I look like Avril. And there's worse things I could be likened to. Atleast she's pretty. Wow, some girl must think I'm pretty."

And then it all came crashing down with the realisation:

"Hey! She doesn't think I look like Avril. She thinks I look like I want to look like Avril. She thinks I'm a wannabe =( "

And I was destroyed. Let's face it. Wannabes are not the real thing, and often they look bad (Elvis impersonators come to mind).

On a happier note, a Special Hen gave me a cd. This is one of my favourite songs on it:


Yay! Oh, and for the record, I don't want to be Avril Lavigne. I am a Jesus wannabe (yes, and probably even more of a failure and more hideous than some Elvis wannabes out there).

Losing focus

For the second time in probably a month I have posted something, only to take it down. The first time the post was only up for less than an hour. The second lasted several hours. The reason I took them down is quite simply this:

I want to glorify my God with my life.

But little things, whether they be my own selfish ambitions and desires, sins in my life, especially trying to please others and my poor attitudes, distractions, fixating on the "storms", worries, anxieties, fears, continually stand in the way.

They make me forget what I want. They make me push aside what I want. They demean what I want. I start wanting other things more.

The two posts I have taken down, if you were unfortunate enough to read them, highlighted this. I have been a very jealous, angry and frustrated person inside, and I was expressing that through both posts. In one I tried to explain my feelings and how God lead me to believe I was wrong. In the other I tried to justify my feelings and behaviours by pointing out ways I was fed up with being treated by different people.

In both cases all I was really doing was showing my inability to glorify God in these situations. It doesn't matter how right I think I might be. God is always right. He is always good. And my behaviours and attitudes, even the writing of those posts, was not justified. It doesn't matter what situations I have recently been through. My response was wrong, and the one I wronged most was God. And I lost focus of what I really want, to glorify God, in my need to express my hurts and vindicate myself.

God, I'm really sorry. Help me keep my attitude in check.

And anyone who read my posts, I'm also really sorry. I will be more responsible.

Upgrades

For those who visit there are new things on my sidebar that need some explanation. Sam who knits hats for the poor has inspired me to do more for the poor than just donate my funds. So I've decided to knit scarves for the poor. My plan is to have 20 scarves knitted by winter next year. So far I have one.

Some people may say that 20 isn't very many.

I say, "Have you seen how bad/slow/demented I am at knitting? Seriously, I suck. Twenty is quite ambitious of me."

So on the sidebar there is a countdown of how long until the scarves are due. There is also a counter of how many scarves I've knitted. It has a chick on it, in reference to the person I like *grin*

Anyways, that's it for now folks.