Sometimes we feel we’re the smallest monkey at the very bottom of the barrel. It’s only when we try to squirm free that God reveals others beneath us.
In Luke 18:11 the Pharisee prayed, “Thank God I am not like this tax collector or someone just as bad, a robber, evildoer, or adulterer. Thank God I am better than these.”
Does God expect our sympathy to be stirred when a ragged family wearing tattered clothes disturbs our trip to the supermarket? Or when we sit at a restaurant next to a tasteless family with poor self-control and even poorer table manners?
We can know how God would act, because in Psalm 147:6, we see God’s character. “He lifts up those who have fallen low.”
When we toss our coin into God’s wishing well, a measure of our requests should be for the benefit of those less fortunate than us. When we think of others in our prayers, God will shine his blessings upon us.
In the following three passages, we see examples of how God shows his love to the world through us:
Example 1:
In Proverbs 14:21 we find that if we have pity on the poor, and we hold them up in our prayers, then God will grant us happiness. If we fail to do so, then we have sinned against God and man.
Example 2:
Matthew 5:42 tells us to offer the hand of friendship to those who are struggling, and help them in their time of need. If our neighbor comes to us for help, and we brush the request aside, how does that reflect the hand of God in our life?
Example 3:
Luke 10:30-37 gives us a practical application for showing God’s love to those around us. In this passage a traveler falls among thieves, and after they steal all he has, they leave him for half dead. A certain Samaritan was moved by the man’s condition, and he took him in until he could care for himself.
In more modern terms, a family’s finances take a downward slide. Or perhaps our neighbor is newly single, left to carry on with several children and only a portion of his or her previous income.
These people have been left for half dead. The world no longer cares about them.
Do we?
When we throw our coin in God’s wishing well, how does God see our request? Are we the Pharisee, or are we the Samaritan?
God expects us to be his hand extended on earth. If we consider others first in our prayers, then they will see the love of God in us, and they will draw to him.
Copyright © 2013 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: C.18.13c.vp