Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Matthew 5:42 (CSB)
Jesus keeps it simple here. Someone has a need. They come to you. Give. Lend. Don’t turn away.
He leaves it wide open. But He’s after something in us. The quick “no” that fires before we even think.
We know that reflex. Someone asks, and the questions start. Will I get it back. Do they deserve it. Have they hurt me before. Look at those questions. They’re all about us. That’s the flinch. We just call it being careful.
This doesn’t mean say yes to everything. The Bible still values work and wisdom. God isn’t asking us to be foolish. But real wisdom asks a different question. Not “what will this cost me.” It asks, “will this really help them?” One question guards us. The other loves them. God is after the first, not the second. So we give freely. We only hold back when love says a gift would truly hurt someone. Never just because it costs us.
We can open our hands because God opened His first. Every good thing we have came from Him. And the best gift He didn’t loan us. He gave it. He gave His own Son for us and asked for nothing back (Rom 8:32). We give out of a hand that God filled first. That’s where an open hand comes from.