Whoever
is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they
have done. Proverbs 19:17 (NIV2011)
Oh, the joys of those who
are kind to the poor! The LORD rescues them when they are in trouble. Psalm 41:1 (NLT)
In Acts 10 we read...
He [Cornelius] was a
devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously
to the poor and prayed regularly to God. 3 One
afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God
coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said. 4
Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the
angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been
received by God as an offering! Acts
10:2-4 (NLT)
Some times
serving the poor can seem pretty thankless.
You get up and go down to the soup kitchen, or as in my area, to the Grace
Bridge food pantry, or to Frisco for Clothe A Child and you see little
results. People are fed or clothed,
needs are met and sometimes someone gets saved, but you rarely see anyone turn
their life around. The miraculous rarely
happens and angels don’t show up every day – they didn’t for Cornelius either.
But then we catch a glimmer of God at work and we go back again or perhaps we
just go back because we should.
The blessings
of God are like the kiss of an angel.
They often go unnoticed. You, or someone you love, comes into contact
with a deadly disease you never get. You
lose your keys and leave five minutes later than you planned and avoid a fatal
or life altering crash. A faithful
follower of Christ befriends your rebellious child. You make it to the gas station when you
thought your car would run out of gas along the highway. Your pushy creditor
suddenly agrees to a generous payoff.
You get a promotion and a raise you weren’t expecting or a surprise
check comes in the mail . . . and so often we never connect the dots, but
somewhere in heaven an angel flashes a smile and a wink that says, “You are
blessed! God has received your prayers
and kindness to the poor as an offering!”
Paul’s
counsel to the Galatians is good for us, too!
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At
just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
