But sometimes we do not know what is best to do. Stopping to help people who have been injured by the side of the road is one thing, but what about giving to panhandlers? Christianity Today asked three different Christian thinkers to weigh in on whether Christians should always give money to people on the street who ask for it. Gary Hoag, the Generosity Monk, who has dedicated his life to encouraging Christian generosity, said to give to them freely. He told the story of C.S. Lewis who was walking down the road with a friend when a street person asked for help. Lewis stopped and proceeded to empty his wallet. When they resumed their journey, his friend asked, "What are you doing giving him your money like that? Don't you know he's just going to squander all that on beer?" Lewis paused and replied, "That's all I was going to do with it." Gary Hoag advocates not judging those in need. John the Almsgiver (550-616) suggests that when a person who was not really in need applied for alms and was detected by those administering care, he said, 'Give unto him; he may be our Lord in disguise.'

Andy Bales, the chief executive of Union Rescue Mission, which works with the homeless in Los Angeles, said to give only as a last resort. His experience has taught him that almost all panhandlers are not truly homeless or impoverished, and that many are making $300 a day. He said that people experiencing homelessness and poverty need a caring community, help to become strong, a connection with Jesus Christ. It is much better to give through a rescue mission than to the individual.

Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action, said don't give to street people, because a quick donation is cheap love. Love is acting in the best interests of others. Providing money so that someone can continue immoral, destructive behavior is simply not a loving act. Some people toss a little money to a street person to assuage guilty feelings about their affluence in the midst of poverty. Instead they should commit themselves to living simply and giving generously through their church or ministries that help needy people to find new lives. People need love even more than money. We can do more through the ministries we support and participate in than by kneejerk reactions on street corners.

How can we show mercy by being a neighbor to those we encounter in our daily lives? The man in Jesus' parable fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away leaving him half dead. Of course, we would stop and assist someone who was the victim of violence, or who had been injured in an accident, but what about those we encounter who have been robbed in other ways?

We live in a world in which we encounter people who have fallen into the hands of robbers. They have been robbed of their meaning and purpose in life by a culture of entertainment and attitudes of coarseness that has reduced them to living like animals. They have been beaten up by the dog eat dog world that valued them only for what they could produce, and how much money they could make, and then left them half dead after wringing all the blood out of them that they could get. They have been abandoned after divorces to raise children on their own. They have been robbed of their self-respect, and their faith in God. They have been robbed of their families. The faith robbers write books and teach classes that deny all that they have been raised to believe in. They have been robbed of morality. They have been robbed of a belief in heaven or a fear of hell. They have been stripped of a sense of divine accountability, of a coming judgment day. Politicians have robbed children of their inheritance by being unable to exercise any restraint in spending, and have subsidized every interest group that will help them get re-elected. Predatory governments and terrorists have robbed defenseless people of the security, stability and peace they need to provide for themselves. Political Islam has robbed people of the freedom to choose their own religion, or for women to get an education. Christians are stripped of all rights, are beaten and persecuted in Islamic communities by extremists. We must pray for wisdom to know how we can render them assistance.

The religious people passed them by on the other side. They did not want to get involved. All too often Christian theological seminaries and denominational leaders have been robbed of their eternal moorings. They have been stripped of their Biblical authority, and their mission of personal salvation. But we have been given the wine of the Gospel and the oil of the Holy Spirit to pour into the wounds of the spiritually afflicted for healing. The people we meet in our neighborhoods need for us to love them with care and concern. We need to share with them the Gospel, and to pray that the Holy Spirit will touch their hearts. We need to bring them to our place of divine hospitality - our churches, where they can find the rest, and renewal they need to recover from the trauma they have been through.

Being a neighbor to others in need is inconvenient. It takes time out of our schedule. It interrupts our daily agenda. It costs us something. Each of us has to pray for discernment as to whom we are meant to be a neighbor to. Each church has to seek to know how they can minister to those in genuine need. We do it through our giving. We do it through our selection of ministries to support. We do it through being a Good Samaritan, being a neighbor.

(Sign up for Ted's blog at www.ameliachapelcom/blog. His new book, WHY AM I? Our Purpose, Meaning, Happiness, Fulfillment, Destiny is available.)