Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

This is from Matthew 5. It challenged me this morning because I normally ignore beggars on the basis that giving them something only feeds a bad habit. If they didn’t get anything they wouldn’t sit there – and if they didn’t just sit there they may do something about whatever it was that brought them this low in the first place. I also suspect that many of them have just found a way of tapping gullible people for cash – easier than working.
So what do I do about the words of the gospel?