I love this! But I’ve got some questions too. Watch this amazing video and then read below…
So why can’t we make people’s day every day?
We don’t have to buy them a car, but we can ask about their day … cheer them up … leave a good tip …
Sometimes my kids say, “We’re starving!!” To which I want to say, “Really? Starving? I don’t even think you know what that means.”
Especially when I consider these stats from a report called Hunger In America. We are in the midst of a county-wide food drive to support our local food banks, and among the clientele the food bank serves…
I’ve faced some tough financial decisions before, but never to this extreme. How about you?
Can you help with some groceries? I filled up a grocery bag for less than $25, and bought enough food to provide a family of four breakfast for a week, three days of lunches, and two dinners.
Please donate some needed food items (you can find a list of grocery needs by clicking here) by this Saturday, October 8, 2011. This is an easy way to show the love of God to people in need.
The Bible is pretty cut-and-dry on this:
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. (Proverbs 3:27)
What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. (James 2:14-17)
So here’s an easy way for those of us in Kent County to do something within our power to help the needy among us:
While the County-Wide Food Drive is going on, take an extra grocery bag or two with you, and fill them up. You will be making a huge difference in the lives of some needy families. You can get a list of needed food and staple items from Access Of West Michigan’s website by clicking here.
Food needs to be turned in to a collection site by Saturday, October 8. If you are in the Cedar Springs area, you can drop off your donations at Calvary Assembly of God, and we’ll deliver them for you.
A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself. (Proverbs 11:17)
There are those who [generously] scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want. (Proverbs 11:24)
The people curse him who holds back grain [when the public needs it], but a blessing [from God and man] is upon the head of him who sells it. (Proverbs 11:26)
Pretty straightforward…
If you want others to help you later, help others now.
If you want God to bless you later, bless others now.
If you want people to honor you later, be honorable now.
It will only come back to you IF you throw it first!
Do you know what empathy is? It’s not the same thing as sympathy. Sympathy is just wallowing with someone who is hurting, but empathy goes beyond that. Empathy is a compound word:
em- + -pathos = joined + feelingÂ
I feel what you feel, but I can respond like you should even when you think you can’t.
Sometimes people get paralyzed by their deep hurts, or crushing depression, or infuriating anger. Someone in sympathy feels the pain, the depression, the anger, but their involvement stops at the feeling stage.
Someone in empathy feels the hurt AND responds in an appropriately healthy way.
Check out what Paul wrote:
Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger? (New Living Translation)
When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. (The Message)
Paul took those feelings his friends and loved ones were experiencing and he turned them into positive action. This is challenging and desperately needed.
Sympathy is easy; empathy is hard work.
Sympathy keeps people paralyzed; empathy helps them move forward.
Sympathy enables people to remain unchanged; empathy gives people a healthy way to respond.
If you want to help your hurting, discouraged, or angry friend, don’t sympathize with her hurt, empathize to help her heal. By responding in a healthy way—a way she isn’t able to yet—and you will help her move to a place of wholeness.
Sometimes to get a point across, the only thing you can do is create a new word. Does anyone remember Rich Hall’s list of sniglets on Saturday Night Live? A list of 20 sniglets is here.
This morning we talked about the Parable of the Talents, where the servants were expected to do something with the talents God had given them. Then Jesus talks about the end of time judgment where we are divided into those who did something for God by addressing human needs, and those who ignored the human needs around them.
How do we remember this? How do we apply it to everyday life?
Then it hit me: we all eat; in fact, most of us eat every day. In order to eat, many of us go to the grocery store. And to help stretch the food budget, we often use coupons. When we get one of those buy-one-get-one-free coupons (a BOGOF), what do we do with the free one? Do we consume it ourselves, or could we give it away? Wouldn’t giving away the free one honor God by helping feed the hungry?
So we created a word—BOGOF—and turned it into a refrigerator magnet. We’re going to do our best to build into our daily lives the habit of loving others by addressing their practical needs.
Why don’t you try it yourself? Maybe you can create your own word too! If you do, please be sure to share it in the comments below.
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” —John Bunyan
I love doing something unexpected for someone. Something kind and thoughtful, but totally “out of the blue.” It’s especially nice when the person for whom you do something nice needs it the most, yet would be the last person to ask for help.
In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about people who take the initiative to help the poor, the hungry, the needy. Jesus never says that they asked for help, but simply that His followers saw the need and addressed it. Jesus concludes by saying, “When you did it to one of the least of these My brothers and sisters, you were doing it to Me!”
Even better: we take the initiative to bless one of the least of these and we get a blessing from God. How cool is that!
Over the weekend our youth group showed up at a precious lady’s house unannounced. We all affectionately refer to Thelma as “Grandma.” We didn’t tell her that we were coming, we just showed up and started cleaning up her yard. (Disclaimer: I have to admit that we did get an immediate blessing, in that Grandma’s daughter Joan made us a cake, so we got a slice before we left.) Pictures are here.
I’m so proud of these young servants who showed up to bless Grandma. As you helped her, you were helping Jesus. Great will be your reward in heaven—way to go!
It’s a pretty simple question:
…but it requires some serious in-the-mirror introspection to answer.
Honestly:
…when times are tough,
…when it’s inconvenient for you,
…when it’s out of your comfort zone,
…when you’ve had a hard day yourself,
…can others count on you to come through?
It really boils down to this:
…are you a lifter or a leaner?
“There are two kinds of people on earth today;
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.
Â
Not the sinner and saint, for it’s well understood
That the good are half-bad and the bad half-good.
Â
Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man’s wealth,
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.
Â
Not the humble and the proud, for in life’s little span,
Who puts on vain airs, is not counted a man.
Â
Not the happy and sad, for the swift flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.
Â
No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.
Â
Wherever you go, you will find the earth’s masses,
Are always divided in just these two classes.
Â
And oddly enough, you will find too, I ween,
There’s only one lifter to twenty who lean.
Â
In which class are you? Are you easing the load,
Of overtaxed lifters, who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner, who lets others share
Your portion of labor, and worry and care?”
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Which Are You?Â
Craig T. Owens 