It is Right to Stand and Help Others

“If you faint (slack, stay, be still) in the day of adversity,
your strength (firmness, vigor, force, substance, worth) is small (narrow, thin).
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, ’Behold, we did not know (see, understand, have awareness of) this,’
does not he who weights the heart perceive (discern, have insight about) it?
Does not he who keeps watch over (maintains) your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work (acts, deeds)?”
– King Solomon, Proverbs 24

It is right and good to stand up and help those that we see who are on the way to thier demise.

One clear example, for me, is debt. I know that those who are in the business of debt are not in it to ”help” people, they are in the business for the business. The more business they get from you (debt incurred), the more they are praised and rewarded by their shareholders, bosses, leaders, etc.

If you were in their shoes, would you not do everything in your power to get more debt out of those who came to you for help if those kinds of rewards predictably waited on the other side? This is the way of the ”striver”, the work day and night to get all that they can, disregarding those that are hurt in their wake.

Now, don’t take this the wrong way, it is not my responsibility to force anyone to get out of debt. I cannot do that and that would only cost my friendships. If the topic comes up, I share my understandings. I am not required to force my beliefs on anyone. I really appreciated this quote in the movie The Matrix: Reloaded:

Commander Lock: D***it, Morpheus! Not everyone believes what you believe.
Morpheus: My beliefs do not require them to.

That’s it in it’s smallest piece. My beleifs to do not require others to believe what I believe. It is only my responsibility to share what I do know with them in honest friendship. Not false piety, please. Just honest, sincere, relational concern.

Cover Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash