Matthew Day Twenty-Five

Matthew 25:34-36 -

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'

Observations/Applications Have you read Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution? Reading the book rocked my world. I found myself fighting against it (thanks to my conservative, anti-socialism slant on life), but I couldn't fight against the fact that everything Shane said was from God's Word. Over and over again, Jesus teaches a life of simplicity, generosity, denial of self -pouring out love and service to others. So why do I continue to make things so complicated?

All that to say, my life often gets so busy that I don't see the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, etc. I get so consumed in my world (which isn't always bad, I mean both of my jobs are focused on resourcing people to share the Good News of Jesus, you know), that I often miss opportunities to meet the physical needs of people around me.

As the economy changes, we as Christ-followers have more and more opportunities to serve physical needs. Most people I know are middle-income wage earners ... and those are the peeps experiencing the financial hurt right now. I want God to prop my eyes wide open ... help me clearly see how you want me, and Your church, to meet these needs.

My prayer:Prop my eyes wide open, God. Show me needs and fill me with inspiration and obedience to meet them in the ways you've gifted and resourced me to do so. Amen.