“Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help. But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives. Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism. But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers. A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband. She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly? Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always been ready to do good? The younger widows should not be on the list, because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they will want to remarry. Then they would be guilty of breaking their previous pledge. And if they are on the list, they will learn to be lazy and will spend their time gossiping from house to house, meddling in other people’s business and talking about things they shouldn’t. So I advise these younger widows to marry again, have children, and take care of their own homes. Then the enemy will not be able to say anything against them. For I am afraid that some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan. If a woman who is a believer has relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can care for the widows who are truly alone.”
“I thought the church was supposed to help people!” he shouted over his shoulder as he left the church. I’m not even sure how he had found his way into the building. I walked into our main auditorium, and he was sitting next to one of the outlets with his phone plugged in. When he saw me, he asked if the church could help him financially. He needed money for rent. I explained that the church didn’t have finances set aside for rental assistance, and he was offended. Wasn’t it the church’s job to help people?
In these verses Paul addresses a similar situation. In his society, elderly widows would have been financially at risk. They probably didn’t own property, which was the primary medium of investment. If they had no family and they couldn’t work, they could easily end up homeless and starving. Paul lays down several rules for when a local church should get involved in this kind of dire situation. First, if the woman has family, the family not the church should be doing the care-giving. Second, if the woman is young enough, then she should care for herself – she doesn’t need the church’s help. Finally, she must have earned respect through godly living. These three simple boundaries probably would have stopped the church from getting financially involved in most situations. However, sometimes a situation would arise that met all three criterion, and then the church would be free to help the widow.
Here’s your freedom for today: just because someone claims that a situation is dire doesn’t mean it is. There are an endless number of people, situations and causes begging for assistance today. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean pouring money into whatever situation presents itself. Paul clearly teaches here that giving financially to some situations will cause greater harm than good. Generosity requires wisdom, and we are fortunate that here Paul begins to offer some of that wisdom. More can be found in the book of Proverbs in the Bible. If you’ve never spent time in the book of Proverbs, Freedom for Today offers this series to get you started. Wisdom is a journey; take a step today.