“Happy is he who is gracious to the poor,” says the Word. “He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.” So we should be gracious to the poor, clearly.
But it also says, “Will they not go astray who devise evil? But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.” Devise good! Am I a schemer for good, concocting covert operations to carry it out? Scheme it out, concoct a battle plan to enact it…I ought not only to do good when it hits me in the face, I ought also to prepare to help the poor, to plan on coming to their aid, to make provision for it. If we make provision for the flesh and then fall into sin, why not make provision for good deeds?
Beyond even that, the scripture says nearby, “In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” So we are forced, if we talk so, to be men of action, not of word only but in deed and in truth.
Ben Taylor 