Withhold no good from them.....

More and more in recent weeks, the Lord has impressed upon me the need to give to people in need and so I have been doing that. But as I look around, there are so many needs. So many hurting people. And so my question is, "But who do I give to. "Because I can't possibly give to all. 

Maybe we can't give to every need that comes our way. Maybe we don't have a monetary gift to give but can give in other ways. 

God will bless us in whatever way we can do.

The story I am about to share, starts off with a need, and ends with one too. I am copying it from another site, but I believe it is this kind of situation that God wants us to do for other people.

Apples

A few years ago, a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases in hand, moving quickly through the airport terminal, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one! He paused, took a deep breath, quickly assessed the situation -- and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then, he returned to the terminal where the apples were still all over the terminal floor. The man was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl running the stand, he discovered, was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, all the while helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the rushing crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one caring for her plight. No one else, that is. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised. These he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly," he said. As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister..." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered, stunned by the words. Then slowly, he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"

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In this story, we notice that he does not answer her question of, "Are you Jesus." Hopefully, his answer would have been no. Hopefully, he would have explained something along the lines of, "But Jesus loves you. "

We do not give to get something from God. We should not listen to those that expect God to make them wealthy.

We are to give with a cheerful heart.

We are not to announce what we give to get attention. 

The girl in the story had a need. She needed to sell her apples and when they were knocked over, then she needed help retrieving them. And because it was the fault of the man whose accident caused it, he repaid her for those that were damaged.

Jesus probably would have healed her blindness. The man couldn't do that so he did what he could.

Just as what Jesus asks of us:

 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in power of thine hand to do it. Proverbs 3:27

 

Thanks for spending a few minutes with me today, Friends. Have a blessed evening coming up from wherever you are.