June 8, 2023

James 2: 15, 16 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? (NIV)

Good wishes are but mockeries without good works.*

It’s not that I don’t care about people. It’s just that helping them can be so inconvenient.

Can you believe that anyone would feel that way? Believe it! It’s my struggle. One night, I learned that a friend – a single woman who lives alone – was recovering from a bout with kidney stones. I was on my way to the grocery store and I knew she might be in need of some items after having been indisposed for a few days, but I hesitated to call her. Not because I didn’t have money or time to help her but because delivering the groceries to her would have interfered with my plans for later - to do nothing. I did the right thing. I called her – and she didn’t need anything so I got to go home and feel good about myself.

Well . . . I didn’t feel that good about myself. I did the right thing, but I sure would like to be a better person. James doesn’t say how I’m supposed to feel about helping a brother or sister in need, but do you suppose Jesus ever felt inconvenienced when he helped others? 

 

I believe that Peter might have had me in mind when he wrote, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” (I Peter 1: 22) I am praying that I will learn to love deeply – from the heart. Until that time comes, I will continue to do the right thing - because it’s the right thing to do. 

He’s still working on me to make me what I ought to be. It took him just a week to make the moon and stars, the sun and the earth, and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient he must be ‘cause he’s still working on me.*