Our church has a ministry called CAREcorp that offers help to those in need. We help with rent, utilities, etc. and give bags of food. You listen to so many sad stories of where people are in life. Today I took a phone call from a 67 year old lady that sounded desperate because they were going to turn off her electricity but we were not able to help her because she did not live in a zipcode that we service.
I always come home from CAREcorp depressed that I do not personally have the finances to help the people that come. When you know there are so many millionaires that just one of their millions would go so far in helping some of these people. The most the church gives them is $150.00. Sometimes that is enough to get them out of the bind, but most times it is just a drop in the bucket. I always have this struggle between compassion and judgement. Today, when a client's electricity bill was $954.00, I wanted to ask if she had thought of turning her air up and trying a few fans? Then on the other extreme we had a lady that was trying to get money for her October rent and had canceled her cell phone in order to have some extra money. If you think about praying for her, she has two job interviews this week.
I know the Bible tells us there will always be poor. Deuteronomy 15:11
"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land."
Matthew 26:11
"The poor you will always have with you."
I can only assume that those verse are true because those of us that have more are not willing to share enough. So many people tithe thinking they have done their share, but God never meant for the tithe to be the standard of giving. It was the minimal to give.
The food pantry at RE is really low. I hope that those of you that are reading this who can will help fill it. It is hard to apologize to people who come to us for help telling them we don't have much food. We could use all kinds of soup and boxed dinners and tuna(there is quite a bit of canned vegetables and fruit)
Too, please pray that the Lord will open all of our eyes to the needs of the poor and our hearts to the sacrifices we might need to make to help their lives be better.
Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.
1 comment:
Praise God for ministries such as these. It is wonderful way to reach the lost. You see, Jesus did ministry the exact way! He met the physical needs of the people first (fed the 3000, 5000, healed lame, blind, sick, drove out demons...then he taught and offered forgivness and the kingdom life). I will be praying for this ministry and your congregation. God bless all you do, and have done. It makes a kingdom difference.
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