When I read through the scriptures and see how Christ interacted with the different people of the lands and how accepting he was I often sit back and reflect on how I act with others I come across. He was so open to accepting people no matter what their status or race was in life. One of my favorite stories is of him eating with the tax collectors and how the Pharisee’s were ridiculing him. In that day tax collectors were not nice men and inflicted much pain and grief on the people they collected from.
If a person couldn’t pay they would take their possessions or at times their children as a payment. I love his comment back to the Pharisee’s, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Mathew 9:10-12 NIV). He didn’t come just to hang out with the righteous; he came to hang out with the people who needed to hear from him the most. You see Jesus knew the one personality trait of God that would shine the brightest out of all of them. The one personality trait which all others would revolve around, even discipline: love.
He showed how we should love one another as the Son of God sent from Heaven by God himself knelt down and washed the feet of his apostles as an example of love. I want you to take a moment and think of the power this word holds, and how much of an impact one can have by looking for an opportunity to share it freely. I love Paul’s explanation of love in Romans 12:9-20; I encourage you to read this passage.
I don’t care how busy your life is, there are abundant ways to allow God’s light to shine through you with one loving act at a time. My wife impressed me the other day when she told me how she was trying to show the love of god to others. She has a huge fear of getting in front of other to minister but wanted to show a little God love. Her ministry was every pay day when she treated herself to a little Mickey D’s she would simply ask the cashier if she could pay for the person’s meal behind her in the drive thru. Almost every time she has to repeat herself because the cashiers were always blown away by her simple act of kindness.
My wife only request that when the person asks why their meal was paid for the cashier reply, because God loves you. I myself have experienced a loving act that had an impact on me. We bought a house not to long ago and didn’t have all of the items needed for a house, like a lawn mower. Our grass grew pretty long and one day I came home and it was cut. I thought my wife got fed up and bought a lawn mower. I later learn my neighbor had cut it. He never mentioned anything about it; in fact he cut it again later on that month. I was so touched that when I bought a mower I made sure to pay him back with some good lawn care myself.
This would become contagious and more neighbors began to help others out because of the kindness my neighbor had started with me. My wife and I are always on the lookout for different ways to help bring back the culture of brotherly love to those around us. I encourage you to do the same. If you see a neighbor that could use a hand why not extend yours. If you here of a co-worker going through a hard time, why not lend a shoulder to lean on? If you see family going through a hard time financially and you have some cash to spare, why not leave an envelope in their mail box with a couple bucks to help brighten their day.
Maybe you know of a neighbor whose been laid off, why not bring them over dinner? Mathew sums this up beautifully for us in Chapter 6:1-4
1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
We all have the capability to show a little love throughout our community and by being consistent, our impact can be great. God Bless
