“Merit” is a worthless argument for any Christian charity. We are all undeserving of the mercy of God, for we’ve all sinned and fallen short of His glory.
However, personal conduct issues can justify a removal from the property, and being barred from the property. Alcohol or drug possession, being intoxicated on the premises, engaging in assault of other disruptive behavior ... these are all grounds for removal and banning from the property.
Yes, that was indeed what I was getting at — there is some conduct that may make some homeless people not unworthy of help, but very difficult to help at that time. Meanwhile, in general, Christians should be there for the homeless and not rejecting them on the whole.
Thankfully, by the grace of God, I’ve known more and more that it makes NO sense whatsoever to say no to God, ever. However, we’re not very good at saying yes to Him. But He’s given us a school where we can learn to do that, and learn to want to have our more of our “no” turn into “yes.”
God’s judgments, His sovereign will, are for our ultimate good. They’re never a waste.
I’ve not taken worldly deliverance or been driven by worldly success, even though for me that would have meant getting back the middle class status that I lost as a teen when my father passed away.
I’ve been homeless other times. Briefly, my family life growing up was a mess, and we also lost our middle class place. And in recent years, some physical problems have come up that have made work not possible right now, and I’ve not been able to work out stable housing since then. The idea that there are “all these programs” is part true but part myth.
For one thing, there are all sorts of programs for homeless people with drug and alcohol addictions. By the grace of God, He’s given me such a strong sense of purpose and joy in Him that I never seriously considered abusing either, although I can see why many low-income people do because the stress of it all is a lot.
And I’ve had the gift of faith, and I haven’t been willing to take short cuts or conform to the world to get back my middle class status. God has entrusted me with quite a bit to me, it has seemed to me, and I’ve had a very strong sense of that. So, for example, when I got a job out of college and my new boss became a huge early fan of the TV show South Park. She even “evangelized” for it by bringing in videotapes of it and sort of compelling us to watch it on our lunch hour. I was briefly tempted to insincerely become a “fan” of it, too, to get in her good graces. “Love is blind,” and she loved that show so much that I don’t think she would have caught on to my insincerity. But I found it to be an ungodly show (and I was still a pretty liberal Christian then myself) and in good conscience couldn’t commend it, so despite being in dire financial circumstances after my father’s death, I politely excused myself from watching her viewing party and failed to say anything complimentary about it.
Not going to commercialize what the commission God has given me. It’s one thing to earn a living from the work God gives you; it’s another thing to enrich yourself on it.