TODAY IS…

an excellent day to stop looking.

“Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing…”  James 2:15 NLT

How many of us have stood in front of an open refrigerator full of food, staring at its contents long enough to draw the attention of parents or spouse and then closed the door and walked away declaring, “There is nothing to eat!”

Certainly, if we haven’t done it ourselves, we know someone who has.

How many of us look at life in the same manner? We stare at it, seeing all of the pain, hunger, homelessness, hopelessness, and need, and then “close the door” and go back to our televisions, video games, or computer screens.

How often do we do something mindless, or nothing at all, because we are bored? Like standing in front of the refrigerator staring at 20 cubic feet of food and saying, “There is nothing to eat,” we look at a world with 7 billion souls and say, “There is nothing to do.”

God can help us see what we are looking at.

God can help us become people who will turn to other people and say, “There is so much to do, won’t you please help?”

An attitude of service to others is very much in keeping with the teachings of Christ. Jesus’ brother James, who at one time found it difficult to even believe that Jesus was the Messiah, ultimately came to not only believe in Christ, but he also came to understand that along with that belief came a changing of the heart that would not only help us see those who are hungry, homeless, and in need, but would also make us very aware that seeing is not enough.

“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?” (James 2:14 NLT).

Would we even want to be saved by a faith that allowed us to remain unseeing to the plight of those around us?

If we are truly people of faith, we will be so busy happily serving other people and looking for ways to help people to help themselves, that boredom will be a word long forgotten. Apathy will be something we fight instead of a term that can be used in a description of us.

All we have to do is call out to our Lord Jesus and ask Him to show us how to help. All we have to do is be willing to serve others with joy and in the name of Christ and we will never again stand in front of the refrigerator and say,“There is nothing to eat.”

Not only will we see the food, we will see those with whom we should share it.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson