I’m posting this here because I’m a believer as is my friend so I’m hoping to get some christian advice.

Quick back story: my friend lost both his parents in the last 5 years (he’s in his 40’s) and gained custody of his nephew. He inherited money from his mom when she passed but his dads passing was unexpected and they weren’t too close so they are still searching for a will. His girlfriend also moved here from another province and even though he said she was under no circumstances going to live with him there was a fire at her place and so she’s moved in. He has kind of been mentioning his financial situation since July (when his dad passed) so my husband and I have sneakily been dropping off $100-$200 grocery store gift cards in his mailbox for him as we wanted our money to go to necessities.

Anyways, he’s just sent out a message (not just to me) about needing $300 for a speeding ticket. We have the money and could lend it to him however it’s not like we don’t have bills; our car insurance needs to be paid this month and we are starting

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treatments this month. In addition we have a 2nd property that we are renting out to a refugee family who are a month behind on rent. It’s all piling up on our end and we aren’t everyone’s free atm.

Anyways, when I tell my husband that he is looking for $300 he’s going to want to give it to this friend because my husband is so generous. I want to put conditions on it though. I need to see a budget being made and need to see that it’s been balanced at the end of the month, I need to see sacrifices being made like turning down the heat a couple of degrees to start with, and his girlfriend (who should be giving him the $300 anyways) needs to find a job and start contributing.

BUT, I know we are supposed to give freely without conditions and I’m just very conflicted. What would you do?

Update: thank you for all your thoughts and suggestions. After speaking with my husband we decided we would not cover the full amount. After speaking with another friend who received the same message we kind of decided he needs some tough love in this situation as we collectively can’t always be there to bail him out when times get tough. Hopefully he learns to adjust his spending so that he doesn’t get himself in this situation again.