Charity vs. Cruelty: When to shake the dust from your feet

Last updated on: July 14, 2015 at 5:55 pm by Marge Fenelon

Charity vs. Cruelty: When to shake the dust from your feet 2015-07-14T17:55:47-05:00 Marge Fenelon

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Trying to help someone out of a tough or dangerous situation is a lot like bringing the Gospel to them. You want to offer a hand to lift them out of their misery and lead them closer to Christ.

If they refuse, you have no choice but to shake the dust from your feet and move on.

On the other hand, you don’t want to be cruel, and you certainly don’t want any harm to come to them and so you pray, sacrifice, and even fast for them. You simply can’t force someone to change their ways or accept help if they don’t want to. By the same token, you can’t allow someone to take advantage of you, especially if it circumvents your following God’s will for your own life. There’s a fine line between being charitable, and enabling dependency.

Sometimes, as Jesus instructed the Apostles, you just have to shake the dust from your feet.

Image: Edward Musalak, Flickr.com

Previous Post

July 8, 2015

Feeling Humdrum? Five Essentials of Getting - And Staying Motivated

Next Post

July 16, 2015 The Catholic Drinkie on Homebrewing and Evangelization

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Blessed Virgin Mary Book Basket Catholic Church Christmas Creation Crisis Management CRS Rice Bowl Current Affairs Eucharist Faith Family Life Forgiveness Friendship God the Father God's Grace Health Holidays Holocaust Holy Days Holy Land Holy See Holy Week Jordan Lent Media Motherhood New Year Parenthood Persecution Pets Pilgrimages Pope Francis Prayer Pro-Life Saints Scripture Seasons of Life Spirituality Suffering Technology Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the Hebrew name for the book of Genesis?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bereshit Elohim Torah Shema