I’m reminded of the crippled beggar, who was carried every day to the temple gate to beg for money. One day when Peter and John were at the temple, the beggar looked at them expecting to get something. However, Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6 NIV)
So often the church today feels obligated to offer silver and gold in
the form of gift cards for groceries, gas or motel rooms to transients. I can’t
help but wonder if we would do better to give these nomads what we do
have…Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Six, seven, maybe eight years ago one would be more suspicious about folks asking for money. Those were the days before the government interjected its fixes into the same market it slowly destroyed by interfering with sound mortgage practice. There is talk about recovery, but that comes only from media hacks building public misperception enabling the government to interfere with the energy market.
-----They say the unemployment rate is plus or minus a bit around eight percent. That only counts the unemployed looking for work. It completely ignores those who have given up and dropped off the unemployment role. You know the truth about unemployment. It is like the “truth” about low inflation. Food was recently removed from the “shopping cart” that is the collection of items whose combined prices are used to measure inflation. That’s really smart if the purpose was to be tricky. Food isn’t the greatest item on any one family’s budget, yet, but it looms bigger across the population because it is one of the few things everybody must have. So we have somewhere between one eighth and one fifth of the people out of work and food prices rising drastically. Still, we are told the economy is doing fine. So we stand there at the door starring the beggar in the face while being quite certain she is only pumping us. And God only knows which “beggars” are simply gamers. The truth is, standing there starring her in the face won’t answer the question.
-----My heart goes out to people who are actually in need. Their own government is murdering the economy they must rely upon, then deceiving people about the dire straits they are living in. I don’t think begging is their solution, but it is all some of them can think to do.
-----I’ve often thought about what I would do if I wound up homeless and jobless. The first thing I would do upon arriving in a town would be to find the soup kitchen and ask if there was anything I could do for them to earn my meal. After eating, I would be interested in knowing if there were any folks around town who genuinely need work done for which they could not pay. Then I would go do it. And I would keep doing this for a short while, because it wouldn’t take long before it attracted an employer.
-----People talk about the silver and gold they need in their portfolios in case the economy goes caput. I don’t know how silver and gold tastes, but I can tell you without biting them, they would be worse than chewy. You could at least get some scant nutrition out of a paper dollar. Some of the prospects on the horizon will turn your shoe soles into soup should they come. Silver and gold can buy food when its for sale, but love has a way of opening storehouses for a little consumption out of the front door, and a little restocking in the back door. It’s what makes economies in the first place. Narcissism destroys them.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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