To make a diffrence
Sometimes our lives are so busy we have to make an appointment with ourselves to review life. You have to take stock of your life and take note of what your time is used for, what you’re busy with and where you have made a difference. This information may be applied to make a few changes, if necessary, so that you will be satisfied at the end of your life.
This is what the people in Corinthians had to do. Paul turned their eyes to their own lifestyle: 21…you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can’t believe it! 22Don’t you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God’s church? Why would you actually shame God’s poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this.
I want excuse myself from this conversation because I’m not doing that! I won’t eat myself to the fill on expense of the poor and certainly not drink too much wine. No, I’m really trying my best to take others into consideration.
Maybe I’m right and I don’t have to take Paul’s tirade too seriously. But maybe, as mentioned in the first paragraph, I have to make an appointment with myself, review my life and make sure that I didn’t forget about the poor somewhere.
A while ago I stopped at someone’s house and rang the doorbell, but it did not work. I almost had to break down the window to get his attention. “No”, he said, “I had to remove the battery because too many people came begging for food.”
I wondered by myself if he ever gone bed hungry?
Maybe this incident also tells something about my behavior. I think back on this week when my doorbell (it is in working order) rang a few times. If I quickly pass the inner door, the visitor usually cannot see me but I may catch a glimpse of who it is. If it is somebody I don’t know I often do not open the door.
I know that I have never gone to bed hungry.
We become so used to our lifestyle that we do not realize that we ignore the poor. The walls surrounding our homes are literally and figuratively built so high that we cannot even see the poor any more.
I had a conversation with a developer in our town. He has been blessed abundantly. He said that he is grateful to the Lord who gave him talents and opportunities to become successful. Now he is able to do so much more for those who are not as privileged. I was dumbfounded.
This is what we are all supposed to do. We should not walk away or even look away from those who are less privileged than we are. God has helped us to become what we are today and now it is payback time. Not because I’m paying off by debt but because I’m grateful of what God has done for me. Also to be faithful to the duty God has put bestowed upon us.
Reflection
Where and why is your doorbell sometimes deliberately not working?
Where can you interact with the poor in your life?
What can you do to make your talents and gifts work?
Prayer
Lord I confess that my life ever so often is too busy to do something for the poor. This is not right. Help me to see the need of others. Give me the motivation to really do something about it. Amen
