I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Timothy 5-6

Paul gives instructions here regarding the care of widowed believers by the Church which I believe can be our model for helping all who are unable to care for themselves.  Paul begins by saying that the family of the person in need should do all that they can to help them.  He continues by saying that every person should care for their own needs to whatever degree that they are able to do so.  Finally, the Church should care for those whose needs cannot be met by these first two options.  However, Paul puts some conditions on those for whom the Church should provide care.  I believe that the conditions which Paul lists are specific to the situation he was addressing and do not necessarily represent the conditions we should impose today.  That being said, they provide a model for conditioning assistance on the behavior of those receiving assistance.  

Paul recommends against giving assistance to those who are able-bodied because they will then spend their time gossiping and meddling in other people’s business.  Again we can see both that he is referring to a relatively specific situation and offering a model which can be applied more generally.  The assistance Paul is addressing here appears to be monetary and/or food supplies.  We see from that another way to address his concerns would be to provide assistance in the form of a job,  I do not want to go too far down that path.  Believers should aid those who require assistance to meet their needs, but that aid can, and should to some degree, be contingent upon actions by those receiving it.  We must always remember that sometimes material assistance is not in the best interest of those in need.