things that piss me off (1b)

I came across a passage in a book I was reading that I found completely startling and arresting. I wish it were short enough to memorize or write somewhere so that I'd read it often.

What I found very strange about the passage, however, was how closely it mirrored my blog post of 29/01/07 ("things that piss me off" - the first of that series) which you'll find below.

-my writing
#2 The safe philosophies of Christians on how they interact with homeless people.

It's not our responsibility to control what someone does with the gift we give them, is it? Then the love becomes conditional. Did God tell you He would only forgive you and withhold His wrath and grant you inheritance if you promised not to abuse your stewardship, not to stray from the path, and to never get mad at Him or cuss Him out to His face; to miss a few Sundays of church or ignore a convicting word? So what if "they're going to buy drugs or alcohol with it"? God the Son gave away all that He had knowing some of us would buy drugs and alcohol with it. Eventually, some of us realize the wealth that we're squandering and sober up but He did not make that a requirement; He did not take a vote at the beginning of the world: "OK, by a show of hands, how many of you will accept & love me, obeying my commands all the days of your life? Good, good...and how many of you will spit in my face, curse, reject and deny me until the day you die? ... Ouch. Dad, what do you think of these numbers? ... ...Alright, fine, I'll go anyways." If the guy sleeping on the sidewalk is not "the poor" that we're supposed to take care of, then who is? (If everyone who walks by assumes the same thing, these people won't even get money for the things you DO approve of them having, like food, will they?) What on earth does a Christian have that he can hold on to? What, with the perfect God within, can we possibly have need for? Give and then, if you're concerned (about the other person, not about your self), pray. Pray against addiction or other deadly behaviors. (Heck, we can be praying that for ourselves, too.) Pray for a way out. Pray for a miracle. Pray that you'll see them again - and give again. Pray in faith that your gift would go where it should. Give so much that they wonder.

-someone else's writing
B.B. Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ (Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1950), 574.

Now dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to be branches of the true vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving ... "though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor" ... Objection 1. "My money is my own." Answer: Christ might have said, "My blood is my own, my life is my own." ... then where should we have been? Objection 2. "The poor are undeserving." Answer: Christ might have said, "They are wicked rebels... shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels." But no, he left the ninety-nine and came after the lost. He gave his blood for the undeserving. Objection 3. "The poor may abused it." Answer: Christ might have said the same, yea, with far greater truth. Christ knew that thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his won blood. Oh, my dear Christians! If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his one word, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."