7-5-2017

        Good Morning All,

             Matthew 20: 30; “And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

    What do you do?  What do you do when you see someone standing by the entrance to the mall begging for money?  They may claim to be out of a job and have kids to feed.  They may claim to be disabled or some other calamity that has occurred to them; what do you do?  Do you hurry up and go on by trying not to look at them?  Do you fear them?  Is your reaction different when you are by yourself?  What do you do? 

     This isn’t an attempt to shame you or make you feel guilty; it is an attempt to make you think.  It is very easy for us to be somewhat jaded and walk on by.  We can come up with a lot of reasons to walk on by.  Our first impulse might be to view them as a fraud.  Maybe you have read some anecdotal stories about how these people can make hundreds or even thousands of dollars a day doing this.  It is just a scam and we just go by.  This may be true but personally I doubt it; if there really was that much money to be made wouldn’t we see more than we do?  If the pickings were really that good, wouldn’t there be more people involved? 

    Perhaps you think that there must be some place, some government agency where they could go for help.  We just got done paying our income taxes and we see how big a bite that takes; it has to go somewhere.  There has to be some place, the Salvation Army or something for them to go to; doesn’t there?  There might be; but what if they do not know where it is or maybe they do not have the ability to get there?  What do you do? 

    I confess; I struggle with this as well.  When I see them, my first thought is one of the Scripture verses like this one and there are a lot of them.  Someone cries to Jesus for mercy; He hears and He responds with mercy.  Well that is easy, He is God and I am not (we have heard that before) but we are God’s children and he calls us to act; to have mercy.

    First, remember that we are “sinful saints.”  We often know the right thing but fail to do it; that is why it bothers us to walk by and that is good to be poked by the Spirit acting in your conscience.  So try to show some mercy.  It can be hard and even scary but try.  Perhaps you can ease your way in.  First donate food or money to a shelter, then help at a shelter, and then go from there.  You might not ever get past the “donate to the shelter” part but that is ok.  God calls us to have mercy on our fellow man and every act of mercy, no matter how big or how small, is for the benefit of our fellow man; it is not for us.  So be brave good redeemed Christian; God is with you in whatever you do. So try and show mercy to honor our Lord.

Father, the good that I would do; I do not do and the evil, which I hate, I do.  Forgive me when I fail to show your love and mercy to those around me, especially those in need.  Strengthen my will to do your will.  Free me from the pain of fear to be bold; bold for you.  Give me the courage to bring healing in this broken world.  Help my light to shine.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior and King, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret