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“When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me.” Matthew 25:35 (CEV)
During the Great Depression the United States Government instituted a plan which was designed to help those in desperate straights get back on their feet. Depending on your political views, it was a defining moment in our history as it gave jobs to the jobless, food to the hungry, homes to the homeless and hope (physically anyway) to the hopeless.
But there is something that welfare, or any government help program will never be able to do. Government, no matter how compassionate will never be able to meet the need of the soul. It may provide health care, but it will never heal the wound of the heart. It may provide food, but will never fill the hunger of the heart.
Even within the body of Christ there are many fine, worthy, shining examples of people reaching out to meet the needs of the world through a variety of outreach endeavors abroad and at home. Many have not only had their physical needs met through these programs, their spiritual and emotional needs have been met as well. These endeavors are blessed by God and a blessing to the Father as well.
You may look at some of the great things being accomplished and wonder, “What can I do? I’m struggling right now to make it myself. Your home may be in foreclosure or your finances a mess. You may be battling relational difficulties of your own or struggling with addiction. A common lie the enemy will use in cases like that is to say something like, “You’re into your own issues too deep to help much.”
It’s not the mighty things that will change your world, but the little things, the simple gestures that make a difference. Those small gestures, given in Jesus name will accomplish far more than any program will. Our personal gestures of good will can go deeper to meet not only the physical, but the spiritual and emotional needs of those around us. God doesn’t expect great things from us, he takes the little things we do and make them great!
Offer a kind word and smile to someone today. It may just be the ‘cup of cool water’ they need at that moment. Go out of your way to help someone with a small task. That may be just the meal their soul seeks. Be a friend to someone in prison, a senior citizen in a nursing home, or the person at the office no one will sit with.
Is God honored by the big missions and outreach programs? I think he is. But he is equally blessed by the simple things we do on a daily basis to reach the hearts of those in need around us. That’s the welfare Jesus seeks.
PRAYER: Lord help me see someone today who needs your simple, loving and graceful touch. Help me share the simple things others need for healing today. Amen.
He remembered us in our weakness. His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 136:23 (NLT)
Most of us don’t remember weak people, we remember the strong, the victorious. We admire the athlete who overcomes all odds to cross the finish line first. We applaud the one who endures pain to finish the race or the one with determination that continues to try even when defeat is obvious.
The person who tries to overcome their weakness is sometimes looked on with favor as well. We look kindly on them as they scrape and clutch for every inch as they pull themselves up the rochy muddy walls of the hole they’ve fallen into. Tenacity and determination are qualities we can admire in a person if at least some progress is being made.
But we seldom remember the weak. If we do remember the weak person we remember them with disdain. We question how they got there. Why they don’t seek help? On a rare occasion we may give them some lame words of encouragement, but often those words are condescending and really meant to make us feel better for having tried.
The Psalmist reminds us that our Father remembers us while we are still in our weakness. He doesn’t ask how we got there or why we haven’t tried harder. How we got ourselves into the situations we are in isn’t as important to God as how we will find victory and he knows the only way we can find that victory is through his son Jesus.
Weakness can show itself in many ways. For some of us our weakness shows up in addictions to anger, drugs, sex. For others our weakness shows up on doubt, worry, and fear. Weakness can also show itself in how we feel about ourselves in our relationships. We put ourselves in ‘love’ relationships that are really demeaning because we don’t feel we are worthy of being treated well.
Weakness is seen as a flaw to us humans, but God sees weakness and an opportunity to make us strong. Anyone who has ever worked with wood knows that the strongest part of the wood is the knot. The knots in wood come from injuries that the tree has ‘healed’ and from branches that need the support of the trunk to grow.
Weaknesses in our lives are like knots in wood. They are places and situations in our lives that we can use to make ourselves stronger through faith in Christ and the grace he freely offers us. Don’t let your weaknesses leave you defeated. There is one who wants to take your weaknesses and use them to make you stronger, and that person is Jesus Christ. Jesus never looks down on us for being weak. Jesus welcomes the opportunity to uplift us in the midst of our weakness.
PRAYER: Father God, it seems like everyday I fail myself, you or others in some way. I say things I shouldn’t say. I do things that are hurtful or fail to do things to lift others up. I’m looked down upon and scoffed at for not being able to succeed. Some days I just give up because I don’t feel it’s worth trying anymore. Thank you for loving me in the midst of my failures. Thank you for wanting to help me overcome my weaknesses so I can be strong in you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Allow me to vent a little bit! If you have followed Christ or been involved in church and Bible Study for any length of time you have no doubt heard the verses quoted above. We’ve been ‘reminded’ through books, sermons and Sunday School lessons to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ and that if we are our lives will be marked by all the good things in life. Things that there is no law against.
After all, who is going to go to jail for being guilty of ‘love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control?’ No one of course. In fact, just the opposite will happen. We’ll be respected (although some may call us weird), loving people.
So, here is my vent. I agree that we should all strive to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. If we have asked Christ to forgive us and desire a close relationship with Him, reliance on the Holy Spirit isn’t optional, it’s imperative.
However, as someone who, admittedly, isn’t always very loving,, joyful, peaceful, forbearing, kind, good, faithful, gentle or self-controlled I struggle. Sometimes it seems like no matter how hard I try there just isn’t always a healthy crop of ‘spiritual fruit’ hanging from the branches of my life.
If you have ever felt like an apple tree with more branches and leaves than crisp red fruit then you know how I feel. Then, again, as I thought about that I got thinking more about what goes into a healthy crop of fruit and was encouraged by what I learned. Hopefully, my ‘vents’ will help you in your walk as well.
The most important aspect of growing healthy fruit is time. I think many of us expect that once we decide to follow Christ, or renew a relationship with him, that we will instantly become healthy fruit-bearing Christ-followers. While there may be some miraculous exceptions to the rule, most fruit takes time to mature.
Don’t give up on yourself when you don’t see instant success in bearing fruit. Fruit trees have to weather many storms and harsh winters before they see an abundance of fruit hanging from their branches.
Secondly, healthy fruit trees are a result of intensive, consistent care and nurturing. That’s a two-fold challenge for us. First of all, take care of your ‘tree’ by spending time learning from God’s word, developing a consistent prayer life and instilling accountability with other ‘trees’ who have weathered the storms. You have to be healthy to have healthy fruit.
The second challenge in healthy fruit is that you can’t expect results in others overnight any more than your changes happen over night. To bring others into relationship with Christ can take a long time because there are hurdles of the past, current situations and self-esteem issues to overcome. Be patient with the blossoms and young fruit in your care. Slow growth and time are crucial in healthy fruit.
Lastly, remember that ultimately, the healthy growth of fruit is out of your hands. The orchard grower knows that he can only do so much to bring a healthy crop. Some things (like nature) are out of his control. Do what you can in your own life, and in the lives of others to make growing conditions the best they can be. But remember that only God can really change you or others. Healthy, mature fruit is ultimately in His hands alone.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, much as I want to be a healthy producer of fruit in my life and the lives of others, I confess that I fall short on a daily basis. There are times when I have just given up on trying to live a life that shows the power of Your Holy Spirit because I’ve failed so many times. Forgive me for the failures, empower me to keep trying, give me patience as I let time and reliance on you work in my life and the lives of others. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “Acts 20:35
A woman suffering from hemorrhaging for over a decade touches His robe and is healed immediately. A man sits alone beside a pool that represents his only hope for healing, for 38 years until He shows up and heals him. A man born blind is given the opportunity to see the faces of those who have cared for him for his entire life when mud is put on his eyes and his eyes are opened.
The life of Jesus Christ was life full of doing acts of kindness in the lives of people around Him. Every act of kindness that we have recorded in the Bible involves Jesus meeting not only the spiritual needs of the people but also their physical and emotional needs. His acts of kindness reached beyond the person healed to friends and family members who rejoiced along side their now-healthy loved one.
Today we call acts of kindness ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ but there should be no ‘randomness’ in our acts of kindness for the Christ-follower. The word ‘random’ is defined by Webster as ‘a haphazard course without definite aim, rule, direction or method. But if we are to answer the question ‘What Would Jesus Do’ we need to follow the example he set forth.
Jesus’ “Acts of Kindness’ were anything but ‘random.’ Jesus always reached out for the weak, the struggling and the poor, not the strong. Jesus always met the emotional and physical needs as well as the spiritual needs. Jesus went out of His way to meet with those who needed His touch and often at the expense of his own comfort. Jesus was more interested in relationship than recognition. As a result He would often tell those He healed to ‘Go, sin no more and don’t tell people what I’ve done.’ Finally, Jesus’ actions always pointed towards relationships, not religion.
Jesus wasn’t interested in what church people went to. He wasn’t interested in how they got into the condition they were in, what political views they held or any of the other things we label people by. Jesus’ goal in life was to make the lives of those He touched better after He touched them.
As Christ-followers we have the same mission. We aren’t random in our kindness. The way we treat people on a daily basis should be the way Jesus treated people. Make their lives better simply because they have been with us.
That’s not easy to do when we are cut-off in traffic by someone too busy texting to pay attention; when the only thing worse then the service in the restraint is the service; when our spouse/children/parents seem intent on making our lives miserable; when the choices we’ve made continue to haunt us.
Today, resolve to show ‘Deliberate Acts of Kindness’ to those around you. Be intentional in your love. Reach out to the weak. By God’s grace and with the power of His Holy Spirit, show the love and kindness of Christ in every situation. By giving kindness you will reap the reward of personal blessing.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I thank you for the examples you gave of kindness to people around you. I confess that my acts of kindness are random and not intentional. Empower me to show Deliberate Acts of Kindness to those around me, especially those I find offensive so that I can show Your love to others. In Your name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 