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Hebrews 13:1-3
1. Let brotherly love continue.
2. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for
thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with
them; and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body.
A few weeks ago, a few friends and I were discussing
the importance of helping strangers and how we need
to examine ourselves to ensure we are not being
neglectful in this area of our Christian walk.
The Lord convicted me in my heart that I had
not been as faithful in this as I should have, so I
decided to look harder for those opportunities and
to not turn away from them when they presented
themselves. That very day I happened to meet a
family that had ran out of gas by the side of the
road, and was able to help. Within another 2
days, on a trip to Kennett, I picked up a man down
on his luck and provided him a lift to Poplar Bluff.
Within a couple days of that, met a family of 5
whose car had broken down. In fact, it
was somewhat surprising to me that every time I
stopped, there was an actual need that I could fill.
Then, last week, I
had to go to St. Louis to pick up my wife. I
was in a bit of a rush, as she had been up there
over a week. About halfway to St. Louis I
passed a truck by the side of the road with 3 men
standing in front of it, examining the engine.
I went on by, rationalizing that I need to get to
St. Louis quickly. Then a word came to my mind
- - HYPOCRITE! Well, I sometimes play out
these conversations in my head, so I thought, "Why a
hypocrite?". "Well,", the thoughts went on,
"If that had been Jesus you would have stopped."
Well, I couldn't argue with that, who could, so I
had to concede that point. "If it had been the
preacher you would have stopped." Well, yes,
that was true. "If it had been your neighbor,
or an elder, or someone from the church you would
have stopped." That was also true. "So
why didn't you stop for those three men?"
Well, I had no answer
for that -- but I doubt if the answer would have
reflected well on me. About that time I was
2-3 miles past the broken down truck (I'm a slow
thinker, I guess), so I found a place to turn around
on the interstate, went on back by them on the other
side, and then turned around and pulled in behind
the truck. By this time I was getting pretty
fired up spiritually, sure I was about to be used by
God to fulfill some real need he had put in my path.
I hopped out of the car and walked up to greet the
men. "Can I give you a hand, or a lift?" I
asked. "No, that's ok, we've got it taken care
of," was the reply. They thanked me for
stopping, and I went on my way.
I wondered, as I drove
off, what was the point of that? I had been
sure that I needed to stop, that God wanted me to
stop. Then it occurred to me, as clear as day.
God didn't have me stop for them. He had me
stop for me. The need filled today was mine.
Thank you Lord.
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