Romans 12: Part 12
After telling us to be joyful, patient, and faithful in hope, affliction, and prayer respectively, Paul continues in the first part of verse 13 by instructing us to "share with the Lord's people who are in need." (Romans 12:13a).
Share
We are instructed to share. This implies that we have something and we keep some for ourselves and give some to someone else. If I share my lunch with you, we both eat something, whereas if I give you my lunch, you will be full and I will be hungry.
One interesting thing about this passage is that these instructions come with qualifiers. And while there are other passages commanding us to share with 1) those in need, 2) our teachers, and 3) all people, we will be focusing on what Paul is specifically commanding here. This command does not negate other commands to share with the needy or all people. We shouldn't use these qualifiers to refuse to help anyone outside of our faith family every time a need arises, because we are also to follow other commands such as "give to those in need" (Matthew 6:2) and "give to the one who asks you" (Matthew 5:42). All that said, let's look at these qualifiers.
Qualifier #1
We are to share with the Lord's people. Paul specifies that we should care for "the Lord's people", i.e. Christians, Christ-followers, etc. Now Paul didn't say the opposite. He didn't say "refuse to help non-Christians", but noted that we should be sharing with fellow believers. I interpret this as more of a "if I learn someone in need is a Christian, then that's a double-nudge to help them" instead of "I will interrogate people in need to see if they are Christians before I help them".
Qualifier #2
We are to share with Christians in need. It is great to share with other Christians, but we should consider if we are helping someone who is struggling or someone who isn't struggling financially. The command to share with those in need is not for us to use as a way to restrict people, but as a way to tell who we need to make sure to include. Sometimes we prefer to bless and share with other Christians who are like us and who appreciate us, instead of sharing with Christians who are in genuine need. And so those who already have more than enough are given even more, while those who don't have enough are still lacking.
There is a movement of "passing it on" or "paying it forward", but sometimes this focuses on blessing those who aren't in need instead of those who are struggling. For example, it is popular to pay for the car behind you at expensive coffee places, but honestly, if a person is in the drive thru of an expensive coffee place, they have the money to buy their coffee. BUT do you know who is probably struggling to make ends meet? Your cashier, barista, etc. So instead of paying for the person behind us, we can leave a 50% or even 100% tip on our order to help people who sometimes get ignored.
We as a society struggle with differentiating between needs and wants. We throw "need" around to describe wants. And rather than humbly admitting when we've mixed these two up, we double-down on defending how <coffee> is a NECESSITY rather than a DESIRE. We need food, water, shelter, and so on. We want perks, treats, and non-essential things.
So let us consider ways that we can share with the Lord's people who are in need this week and beyond.
Questions to Wrestle With
Take time this week to consider:
-What was the last thing that you shared with someone?
-Who do you tend to share with?
-How often do you struggle with separating your needs and your wants?
-How often do you share with those who are in need?
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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