How Good are Your Eyes?

It was a great fire.

The meat sizzled when it hit the grill.

I love barbequing.

It was the very last day of the Cold Weather Shelter, a ministry that fed and sheltered the homeless in Culpeper from November through April. Churches of all types and sizes took turns hosting and caring for our guests during these months. The River & Mosaic churches partnered for this last week.

Some of our guests were so thankful for the helping hand that they decided to put some of their own resources together and do a barbeque the final night.

I got my grill and set it up in the pastor's parking space right off where we were spending the night. I fired up the coals and waited for the guys to return with the hot dogs and burgers.

When they got back from the store, I was in for a surprise. They just didn't get hot dogs and burgers; they brought the supermarket meat section with them.

Burgers, hot dogs, pork chops, brats, different types of sausage, etc.

It was veritable carnivore’s garden of delights.

I was very touched by their generosity. These guys have little enough as it is, and yet they provided a feast the likes I've never seen before at a church function.

Generosity, it seems, is often inversely proportional to what we have.

The more we’ve got, the tighter our grip on it. Or, should I say, the tighter its grip on us.

I have shared the following question with many people over the past week:

“Who has gained more these past months? The homeless, or our churches?”

There is much we can learn from each other; if we’ll only sit down and talk.

How can we be generous to others this week?

Joe


Related Verses

Matt 6:19-34
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.