Standing in the hot sun or cold winter air with a sign in your hand isn’t easy. The fact is that it can be humiliating begging others for help — it’s hard work! If I learned one thing from my experience doing homeless ministry is that many of the people on the street never thought they wold be there.

Many of those people had careers and families…then life happened. Others are mentally ill. And the fact always remains that it could happen to any of us.

Remember this…

Luke 16:19-21

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.

The beggar Lazarus – He probably got on people’s nerves just as beggars do today. People probably questioned how he lived and his choices. People probably wondered why his family didn’t help him.  They most likely made excuses and justified ignoring him when Jesus clearly said, Give to them who ask and don’t turn them away… 

Matthew 5:42 (NKJV)

42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

Jesus also told us to give looking for nothing in return…

Luke 6:35New King James Version (NKJV)

35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

We all run into Lazarus today…at the gas station…on the street…asking you for spare change…the crumbs that fall from your table. What is your reaction? Do you react as the rich man did and turn them ALL away? 

Jesus knows there are scammers and liars. He knows there are those who will use what you give them on things they don’t need. He knows there are  those who will try to take advantage of your kindness. Many people refuse to give money to people who beg because they’re afraid they will use it on alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or will waste it on something wicked. I feel that’s one application of the scripture…”And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold”(Matthew 24:12), because so many people can’t be trusted, the love that many people would ordinarily show has grown cold and withheld. We must therefore not withhold God’s love, but share it with wisdom.

If someone who’s begging is lying, that’s between them and God. God expects us to be obedient, compassionate, wise and plant seeds of His love. Purchase a meal for them. Buy them medicine. Pay for them to have shelter for a night or two, while letting them know that you are sharing the love of God. All it takes is the ‘crumbs that fall from your table’. Sacrifice the cost of a lunch, coffee for a week, sodas…whatever it is that you don’t necessarily need to help someone who begs from you.  I guarantee you won’t give away enough to break your, but you can hold on to enough to do so. Some times God places these people in our paths for a reason…so they can have an encounter with Him through us. So you can ask them if they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So we can be the answer to their prayer to God for help. You can be someone’s confirmation that God hasn’t forgotten them. You could plant a seed in someone who witnesses your act of kindness….God always has a purpose for every encounter.

Remember that  God warned us about turning away those who ask of us….be careful when you do because many times, just as in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus…Christians and the church are the RICH MAN.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

It’s sometimes difficult for many Americans to see how everyone can be equal, but still not have the same ‘American Experience’. Many times they then judge others based on how THEY FEEL OTHERS should REACT to how they perceive their ‘American experience’. But, if we think about the fact that everyone doesn’t experience the organizations for which we work in the same way…it becomes more clear.

Before becoming an educator, for a decade, I worked for a great, very successful Fortune 300 company. This company is the source of a great standard of living for thousands of employees. It was a great company, just as America is a great country. Although, everyone in the company was ‘equal’ …they didn’t ‘experience’ the company the same.

I was a Marketing Manager, and everyone who was at manager level and above received an annual bonus based on company performance. Because of the industry, this company performed well in a ‘good economy’, but performed even better in a ‘bad economy’ (It still does, the stock price is incredible).

Employees who were below manager level worked just as hard, if not harder than many of those who enjoyed receiving the bonuses. They also played just as great a role, if not greater, in reaching the goals that resulted in those bonuses… in much the same way teachers aren’t respected as experts (by ‘experts’ outside the classroom) , even though they are on the ‘front lines’.

But, these frontline workers in that Fortune 300 company weren’t (and aren’t) allowed to share in those financial rewards.

During company meetings, when the leadership tried to ‘inspire’ everyone on every ‘level’ to push harder to meet goals…those who didn’t receive the bonus had less incentive to ‘work harder’ so others can reap a greater reward. It’s unfair for those who are higher in hierarchy to judge their co-workers as lazy and less dedicated because they don’t enjoy the systemic rewards system equally.

It’s clear that even though everyone worked for the same great company, that everyone didn’t ‘EXPERIENCE’ the company in the same way.

Think about your company…organization…school district. What’s your role? Do people higher in the hierarchy enjoy more perks…prestige…access…respect…compensation…rewards? Does every worker experience your organization the same way?

Of course not. The truth is that some people in every organization are treated better because of their role…no matter how much actual value they bring to the organization.

In much the same way, because of race, culture, social status, academic achievement, etc., everyone doesn’t experience America the same way.

Unfortunately, some people can’t see or relate to this unless they feel their ‘status’, ‘rewards’ or level of ‘access’ and ‘freedom’ are being threatened.

If you don’t want anyone judging you based on how you react to what you perceive as unfairness in your work environment, then don’t judge others based on their perception of how they experience America.

Matthew 7:12 (NLT)

¹² “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Please do me a favor. Do your best to AVOID BLINKING AS YOU READ THIS POST. I will make this short and sweet.

Many times we classify blessings as LITTLE and BIG. God has blessed us so abundantly with our wants, that sometimes we get our WANTS and NEEDS confused.

So, I encourage you to stop right now and thank God for the LITTLE THINGS in life that we sometimes overlook, look past or just don’t see…those things we sometimes take for granted. Many are right before our eyes.

If you’re having trouble thinking of any LITTLE THINGS…go ahead and blink your eyes now if you already haven’t.

Doesn’t that feel better?

Looks like the little things aren’t that little after all:-)

Psalm 103:1-2 NKJV

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:

BE BLESSTIFIED!

 

We’ve all done it!

To be polite…

To appease the boss…

To be a good audience…

To prevent hurting someone’s feelings when they weren’t really funny.

How many times do you fake laugh? How often do you type LOL when you didn’t really laugh-out-loud?

How many times do you say, “THAT’S HILARIOUS”… but you aren’t really laughing?

So, if it’s not really funny, and you pretend to laugh…is that considered lying?

Now, we all know that David pretended to be crazy to save his life, but I can’t find an example of someone pretending to laugh.

1 Samuel 21:12-14 (NKJV)

¹² Now David ^(A)took these words ^[a]to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³ So ^(B)he changed his behavior before them, pretended ^[b]madness in their hands, ^[c]scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?

What do you think?

BE BLESSTIFIED!