For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ Deuteronomy 15:11
“It was said of Abba Chomas that at the point of death he said to his sons, ‘Do not dwell with heretics, and do not have anything to do with rulers, then your hands will not be opened to gather together, but open to give.'”
Abba Chomas, a desert father, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, trans. Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo: Cisterian, 1975) 244.
Are your hands open?
If we have wrong thinking (“dwell with heretics”) or grasp for power (“have anything to do with rulers”) all we need is money to survive and make things happen, so we aim at gathering.
What should we do instead?
We must keep our hands open to give. This is a command of God. Open your hands wide. There are so many needs. If you have more than enough, consider whom God has positioned you to help.