Can You Help With Gas Money?
One day while on a short weekend trip, we pulled into a rest area to stretch our legs and noticed a young couple.
I don't know if they were married or just traveling together.
Their van had seen better days as did the clothing they wore.
Their choice of hairstyles seemed reminiscent of the sixties when rebelling against the "Establishment" was a common theme.
Standing in front of their van, they held a simple, handmade sign - "Need gas money.
" I didn't know where they had come from or where they intended to go; only that they were seemingly out of funds and needed some help.
Given the above, how would you respond? How do you respond when pleas from Feed the Children or St.
Jude Children's Research Hospital appear on television? During the holidays, many people volunteer to feed the homeless at soup kitchens and shelters all across the country.
Have you volunteered? If not, why? What is it about helping the poor that tends to create avoidance in many people who have the ability to help? The following passage comes to mind: "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.
' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.
'"[Matt.
25:34-40 NASB] "To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine,even the least of them, you did it to Me.
" (emphasis added) What a powerful word picture! The behavior Jesus is modeling is to reach down and lift someone out of their poor condition, be it homelessness, poverty, hunger, loss, injury, illness, or their need for aid.
By helping those in need, you are imitating the behavior of Christ, who came so that "the blind could see, the lame could walk, those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases were made clean, the deaf could hear, the dead were raised to life, and the Good News was preached to the poor.
" Who will you help in the remaining days of 2013?
I don't know if they were married or just traveling together.
Their van had seen better days as did the clothing they wore.
Their choice of hairstyles seemed reminiscent of the sixties when rebelling against the "Establishment" was a common theme.
Standing in front of their van, they held a simple, handmade sign - "Need gas money.
" I didn't know where they had come from or where they intended to go; only that they were seemingly out of funds and needed some help.
Given the above, how would you respond? How do you respond when pleas from Feed the Children or St.
Jude Children's Research Hospital appear on television? During the holidays, many people volunteer to feed the homeless at soup kitchens and shelters all across the country.
Have you volunteered? If not, why? What is it about helping the poor that tends to create avoidance in many people who have the ability to help? The following passage comes to mind: "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.
' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.
'"[Matt.
25:34-40 NASB] "To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine,even the least of them, you did it to Me.
" (emphasis added) What a powerful word picture! The behavior Jesus is modeling is to reach down and lift someone out of their poor condition, be it homelessness, poverty, hunger, loss, injury, illness, or their need for aid.
By helping those in need, you are imitating the behavior of Christ, who came so that "the blind could see, the lame could walk, those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases were made clean, the deaf could hear, the dead were raised to life, and the Good News was preached to the poor.
" Who will you help in the remaining days of 2013?
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