When Tithing Was More Than a Tenth

How much people gave in the Old Testament is hazy. Most people say 10 percent. That's true for starters, because in the Old Testament there were several ...

Secret Santa Looks for the Lost

A businessman from Kansas City has been dubbed "Secret Santa" because he anonymously hands out cash every Christmas to those in need. Each year, ...

Christmas Carolers Receive No Praise for Giving

It was a chilly December evening in downtown Chicago, and about a dozen of us from a suburban Christian college were Christmas caroling. My best friend, ...

Everyday Compassion

A Chicago-based newspaper, StreetWise, is sold by homeless people, who collect a portion of the proceeds. One day as I walked to work, I passed a StreetWise ...

Bono on Compassion

U2 singer Bono, in a private meeting in June 2001 on the Hill in Washington, D.C., said this about helping the needy of the world:

What will really wake ...

Giving a Bum a Hug

I walked down Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. There was a filthy bum, covered with soot from head to toe. He had a huge beard. I'll never forget ...

Christians Help Muslim Widow

Sheikha has no idea where or when she was born, though it was about 60 years ago. Her Bedouin family roamed across vast areas of the Middle East. Today, ...

Jim Rhodes: God's Complainer

Driving through Mineral Wells, Texas, one afternoon in 1994, Jim Rhodes noticed many buildings standing vacant due to the shutdown of a local military ...

A Sermon to the Rich

From a sermon to the rich:

That bread which you keep, belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes which ...

The Evil of Usury

Usury (exorbitant interest) lives off the bodies of the poor.