Too Much Charity?

I had a thought recently, wondering whether it's possible to have too much charity, and the answer I came to is that it depends. If we're talking about charity as the pure love of Christ, then the answer is no. We can neither give nor receive too much Christlike love. However, if we're talking about charitably giving our time and resources to those in need, the answer becomes a maybe. I believe that it's possible to both give an receive too much charity.

We give too much charity if we burn ourselves out by doing so. Speaking from personal experience, it's certainly possible to give up too much of one's time to others. I imagine that it's possible to give up too much of one's resources as well. If you charitably give away resources you can't afford to lose, that's not just incredibly generous; it can also be dangerously foolish. If you have excess, feel free to contribute, but please don't give away time or resources you need for yourself.

Even on the receiving end of charity, it's possible to overdo it. I am occasionally alarmed at how much money panhandlers reportedly can make. That much generosity encourages inactivity and discourages productive, soul-affirming work. Of course, it's good to give generously when there is a genuine need, but we don't want to foster dependence on that generosity. Those who could are content to rely on charity, when they could otherwise work for their living, miss out on opportunities to improve themselves and their society.

When we have time and resources that we can safely spare, and when others have a genuine need for that charity, we should give generously, but when they don't really need what we can offer them and we can't really spare it anyway, perhaps it would be better if we didn't.