There is a lot of troubles in this world. There is a lot we can be thankful for in the world. This morning I woke up in a comfortable bed in peace. I was able to breathe and rise easily from that bed and get a cup of coffee. This means I have a roof over my head and I have been able to pay our bills. God has Blessed me! God has given me these gifts through different means and opportunities: love, patience, guidance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and His Word. I would guess we have all needed help from time to time. Do we remember to give back when we can? If a million people gave a dollar that would be a million dollars. This is the example the Lord taught me by when I felt the little I have to give didn’t mean much. I love local giving. In the communities where we live there is need. Ask the local food bank or shelter. Lifting those in our communities up lifts us up. Remembering our neighbors in time of need with a quiet hand or meal or maybe just to listen.
1 John 3:17-18 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Luke 3:8-11 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘we have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones, And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So the people asked him saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is this not the fast I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share, your bread with the hungry, and to bring the poor to your house who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?”
Psalm 41:1-3 Blessed is he who, considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.
If we have been helped or seen troubles in our lives we know how it feels and sometimes our pride gets in the way of asking for help. Every little bit we do, every little bit we can give grows in God’s hands. Can we listen for a still small voice to lend a hand; quietly and with love?
