A Call To Action - Lk. 3:10, 11

"The crowd asked, 'What shall we do?' John replied, 'If you have two coats, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.'" Lk. 3:10, 11

There seems to be a general call throughout the Bible for ALL believers: Take care of widows and orphans, and give to the poor. What do I do to fulfill this mandate? My conclusion: NOT ENOUGH. There is a reason for this. My upbringing drove me to succeed: Survival of the fittest; Look out for number one, etc. This shaped my thoughts about life, as well as God (and kept me from finding him for a long time). It led me to be the capitalist that I am, who believes in free markets and small government, and equal opportunity for all to "make it." But it also distorted my view of the poor. Yes, many of them should be making more of an attempt to improve themselves, but that is between them and God. What is between ME and God, is how I am fulfilling what he has called ME to do. This is where I always get tripped up--I think too much. God says to go do something, then I think about it, analyze it, determine how it applies to me, and reach a conclusion about how I will respond. Kinda like the route Eve took when God told her to not eat the apple... My decision to obey cannot be based on anything other than he told me to do it, otherwise I am on a dangerously slippery slope. Back to the poor. God has blessed our family with abundance, and while we do give to the poor through some large organizations, I am sensing a call for more "grass roots" involvement. I want to broaden our giving. Yes, I want to touch the world through the missionaries we support, but there is local need as well. I will be looking for ways to fill that gap.

Jesus, thank you for the abundance you have provided for our family -- show us how to be good stewards.

Today's reading: Dan. 5, 6; Ps. 130; Lk. 3