on doing good

Excerpt from Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life by Bob Lupton:

"I discover within myself two persistent temptations toward "doing for" the poor rather than "doing with"them. One is that it feels so good. To surprise a mother and her three little children with a bounty of good food at the very moment they have hit the bottom of the peanut butter jar produces a rush of warm feelings in the spirit that are deeply satisfying. Such an experience leaves little doubt that surely 'it is more blessed to give than to receive.' (Acts 20:35). The other temptation, and clearly the stronger one, is that it is much easier to do for people. It is so much quicker to drop change into a panhandler's cup than to learn his name and offer him work. Or to box up food in the church kitchen than to sit at the kitchen table of a needy family and work out a budgeting plan.

Does this mean then, that feel-good, easy charity is bad charity? I would not go that far. 'Doing for' charity meets a very basic human need, for the moment at least.....'Doing for' charity can open a door into the world of human misery. It is a first step in understanding the overwhelming problems that can gain the upper hand on the less fortunate. It can open up one's heart and serve as a catalyst for compassionate, redemptive involvement. It can change the life of both the giver and the receiver. Doing good can lead to doing what is best.

But good can sometimes be the enemy of best. When our one-way giving becomes comfortable and our spirits are no longer stirred to find the deeper, more costly solutions, good has become the enemy of best. When our feeding programs value order and efficiency over the messiness of personal involvement, good has become the enemy of best. When recipients remain recipients and givers are content to remain givers, good has become the enemy of best.

Perhaps the best giving is the kind that enables the poor to know the blessedness of being givers."