Sharing. Parents know all too well, I’m sure, that sharing doesn’t come naturally to us as humans. Our precious little humans have to be taught how to share and often we as Christians find we have to learn to share all over again.
In light of recent events in Oklahoma, West, and Boston the last part of Romans 12:9-13 stuck out to me as I read this week. Verse 13 says, “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
In the US we respond to crises like the ones in Oklahoma, West, and Boston unlike any other country. We flood the city with money and supplies and even aid workers to assist the people in their time of need. We do such an amazing job of responding that many times the people affected by these crisis’ have to ask us to stop sending help! We could be tempted to look at how we respond to these situations and say we are great at sharing with people who are in need and leave it at that but I think Paul was thinking of much more.
Sending money and supplies when we see the devastation people are facing is not wrong at all, in fact it is good for us to be moved to help when we see people in need - that is what Paul is telling us to do. However if that is the only time we are moved to help others I think we have a problem. The second half of verse 13 says practice hospitality - hospitality is relational, it is personal, it takes time and effort on our part.
Time and extra effort is not something we have a lot of in our fast paced culture. It is easy to send money and supplies because it takes us two minutes to write a check and put it in the mail or fifteen minutes to run to Wal-Mart and grab some supplies to donate but it is harder to see a person in need and stop to help them. I was so moved by David’s story on Sunday of Crystal stopping to pray with the sales associate crying in the bathroom as she was racing to get her own daughter to the potty in time. Taking time to stop like this requires so much more from us than sending a check - it can be really awkward and they could completely reject your efforts to reach out and if they don’t then you are sacrificing time to stop and listen to what is going on with them and then once you have heard their need you have to decide how to respond. It is messy. It is time consuming. It often takes real sacrifice on our part. But this is what it looks like to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world.
The job of sharing with others in need and practicing hospitality is not an easy one - there are strings attached - but when we do this we are sharing in the ministry of Jesus. Be on the look out today for people around you who are in need - it may be someone in the bathroom at the grocery store, it may be your spouse or family member, it may be a friend from Life Group - who ever it is, respond with love and mercy and know that you are acting as the hands and feet of Jesus in this world.
Be the life giving aroma of Christ to the people around you today.
- Vicki Sommerwerck, Youth Minister
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