"Take Care of Widows who are Destitute"

“Take care of widows who are destitute.” (1 Timothy 5:3, The Message)

This is one of those crystal clear commands that we couldn't get around even if we wanted to.  "Do you have widows in your congregation who are truly destitute?" asks Paul, "then take care of them."  Their first possibility of support ought to come from their own families; however, if their families can't take care of them, or if they have no families, then the church ought to take care of them.

There are so many other possibilities of support in our culture; social security, government assistance, etc., that it might be easy to forget Paul's admonition to churches and our responsibility to widows.  We must not.  The church is being the church when it takes care of widows who are destitute.