Thursday 20 Feb 2014

Thursday Reading: Proverbs 19:17

Key Verse: Proverbs 19:17
He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.

Devotion:
One of the most admiral things that I have seen anyone do was the simple gift of a big sandwich and coffee to a homeless person during a day out Christmas shopping; and I’m afraid to say that it was not me doing the giving! There is nothing like a true show of kindness like that to put everything into perspective for you. I was not well off at the time, but I could afford to eat and even to share what I had with others and yet someone with less gave more than me. It really did bring home the lesson about the widow giving her all at the temple!

God wants us to be compassionate and to love others and show mercy. The heart of that has got to be because we actually do love people; that means looking out for them always and not just when it suits us. God does not necessarily want us to give everything we own away to the poor but rather to bring them up to a better place. By showing them love and compassion we enrich their hearts so that they can regain some sort of confidence in humanity. Many poor people have lost that compassion because they see people being quite mean to them.

Christ continued to remind us that we do need to love our neighbours. Who are you neighbours? Well they are not just the people that live next door but the people that are in your community; and that includes the poor who do not have a place to stay and those that do not have food to eat. God wants us to have open eyes as well as open hearts!

God is not slack in rewarding those who are not selfish and those who are willing to show love and compassion – especially when they do so whilst giving glory to God! I am sure that that widow did not go away with an empty soul but rather was richer than any of the other people in that temple on that day. It may not be that God supplies us with monetary rewards but with spiritual rewards instead. I love God because He is absolutely fair!

Points to Ponder:
Do you share what you have?

Do you pick whom you share with?