Responding Promptly
Over the last few months my wife has done some freelance work for an employer that has not always paid her in a timely manner. The employer's tardiness with her most recent check was particularly disturbing because my wife took a number of precautionary measures to ensure that she would be paid on time. In my own self-righteous indignation about the matter, I began to think about Leviticus 19:13, which says, "Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight." Paying people for their labor in a timely manner is a Biblical concept.
Similar riches of Biblical wisdom are found in Deuteronomy and Matthew. Deuteronomy 24:14-15 says, "Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin." And in the parable of the vineyard, after Jesus mentioned the four different groups of men who worked for the landowner, our Lord said, "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'" Although the story is normally used to show how the last will be first and the first will be last, it suffices for another lesson here. The landowner paid his workers at the end of the day. The laborers did not have to wait six weeks before receiving their check in the mail.
I once worked for an institution that paid its employees monthly. Without being too critical, and while realizing that daily payment is impractical in today's working world, I have to say that I always disliked the idea of being paid only once per month. But before I begin to rant about American remuneration practices, let me get to the point, which is that God has instructed employers to pay people in a timely manner for a very good reason--a reason that teaches us a great lesson about the way we should put our faith into practice as we serve others.
God wants employers to pay people quickly because money is a basic need as long as we are on this earth. (Remember Deuteronomy 24:15: "Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it.") In this way, employers are called to respond to people's needs.
Similarly, we are all called to respond to people's needs. As God's children, we are to minister to the sick, feed the hungry, house the homeless, take care of widows, etc. Each of us has an obligation to help the needy. And as God's instruction about paying workers demonstrates, we are to be timely in doing so.
Jesus set the ultimate example of responding quickly to people's needs. When He saw people who were in need, He did not form committees, take polls to see how his actions would affect His reputation, or perform cost-benefit analyses. And while I understand the wisdom of Proverbs 15:22--"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed"--I believe we could more often take a lesson from Jesus and just get to work.
I am saddened when I think about how many times I've failed to help the needy because I've wanted to be the person who helped in the "big" way. Sometimes I've waited to help until I could save a significant amount of money to give to a family in need. Maybe it was a month or six weeks before I could finally write the check. What I should have done was taken a meal, or babysat someone's kids, or simply took someone's hand and prayed. That is, I should have done what I could do at the moment. Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you."
In September America saw a great demonstration of people rushing to the needy. Men and women from across the country rushed to Hurricane-affected areas to give what they had, whether it was machinery, medical expertise, water, or simply muscle, sweat, and love.
In the future, I want to be more like Jesus, Peter, and the great people who gave their time in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina. When people are in need, I want to respond in a timely manner.
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