I thought that most of the homeless are either drug addicted or mentally ill...some have lost their jobs and cannot afford to feed their families...There is a story behind every face. I am not Jesus and I cannot discern the innermost parts of people and if the day comes that I have to distinguish between the “deserving” poor and those who do not deserve..my Christian life will be for naught. Thankfully, I have contact with an amazing God who leads me to those who he wants me to help and I am not about to make them fill out a form to see if they deserve the money or time I have to give. The homeless man I referred to in my original post is now one of the choir directors for the Brooklyn Tabernacle...a man with talent who just needed a helping hand out of the box he was living in. The scripture you quoted..if you read it in context is NOT talking about the poor...but it was talking about the “brethren”. Brethren who did not work but were busybodies. I prefer to live by this: Hebrews 13:1 Let love of the brethren continue.2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.3 Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. Prisoners are not just those in jail...but those who are bound by sin, by addiction, by mental illness and wrong thinking...prison comes in many forms. Jesus had compassion on all of these things.
There's a difference between helping the deserving poor and giving money to a known drug addict, drunk, or lazy bum.
Choosing to aid the latter is a sin against charity. Giving aid indiscriminately may be a simple policy, but it's counter-productive with respect to the welfare of the undeserving poor, as our indiscriminate governmental social welfare programs prove.