Our sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ had long ago declared that we will have the poor with us forever. No charitable man-contrived effort will ever undo the will of God Almighty. (For more on how man-contrived efforts work out against the will of God see Genesis 11:1-8) Speaking of the Old Testament we see that here too God has informed us that we will indeed have the poor with us always. “For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’” - Deuteronomy 15:11. So the poor are with us forever. And therein lies the Christian’s commission to the needy: we are to open our hands to them!
It is easy to rest beside the security and fat of our own hearths on Thanksgiving Day but are we fulfilling our duty to the needy from the comfort of our tables? What have we done for them?
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” - Matthew 25:40. Have we indeed said to ourselves, “I will do whatever I can for these people during the rest of the year but on this day . . . I will not?” Shall we now say, “On any other day but this one?”
Honoring our God and risen Savior is paramount in the life of a Christian and we honor Him when we follow His simple but often times perplexing command, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” - 1 John 4:11.
Today, as we celebrate the provisions of common grace that God has granted all of us, let us also share our abundance with those less fortunate. Write a check; send a bag of groceries; open your doors; set another plate at your table; volunteer at a food bank or local church serving the homeless, but most of all - open your hearts to those in need. Yes, we will have the poor with us forever but they need not go without a gesture of true Christian kindness on a day that we will be giving thanks to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment