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Over the years people have said the following statement to me a number of times, “You are a Christian, you should help me”.

As Christians we should help others. The Bible tells us this is part of the Christian life. It helps us to shine our lights and bring glory to God (Matthew 5:16).

However, there are times when we should not help. I have had people make this statement to me when they are doing nothing to help themselves.

An example is one fit and healthy person never worked, was often on drugs or alcohol and never tried to get help for that. They went from one charity or Christian person after another to get help.

Many people tried to help with the alcohol and drugs issue, but they did not see it as a problem. They just wanted money, fuel or food to get by until there government payments came. Then they would buy drugs or alcohol with it.

Why am I posting on this example? Because as Christians we are called to help. But it is important to not just help everyone as we may be enabling their habits or their laziness.

The key is to prayerfully listen to God when someone comes asking for help. I often pray, “Is this someone I should help Lord” and then I listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Most of the time the Holy Spirit says yes, but there are times when He says not today. I do not always understand why, but I have learned to trust His judgment as He knows everything.

Another example was a man came to my church door when I was a Pastor. He said he was broke and traveling through town. He was honest about his previous issues with alcohol. He just needed some money to get by.

As we talked I felt the Holy Spirit say take him to the shop and buy a basket of food for two days. So we went and got bread, milk, cereal, pasta and a treat to bless him. He was very thankful.

A few days later the man came back and thanked me. He looked a lot better in himself and said he was going to continue his journey. He even thanked me that I did not give him money or a voucher as he would have been tempted to buy alcohol.

I explained that God prompted me to go to the shop with him and buy food, not just give him money. He simply said, “God knows best” and went on his way.

So again, when someone says, “You are a Christian, you should help”. Remember we are called to help, but always pray and ask God if He wants us to help on this occasion.