Howdy, Neighbor

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed. -- Proverbs 19:17

I would expand upon this verse a little, and you are going to think I’m weird for bringing these two things together.  I am weird, so it’s OK:

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself (1 Corinthians 11:29); and, So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Once we begin to realize how connected and “one” the cosmos really is we experience liberation.  The old burden, bondage, and limitations of the sin nature are removed in Christ.  However, though, as Jesus said in His offer of rest to us, His yoke is easy and His burden light, we have a new and proper responsibility that goes with our new freedom.  We must recognize that we are always living, working, acting, and speaking to the Lord, on the Lord’s behalf, and for His glory.  Those are God’s children we are teaching; it’s a person made in the image and likeness of God that cut us off in traffic; and, when we help someone financially or in other ways, if we are willing to acknowledge and accept it, we are, as the proverb puts it, lending to the Lord.  

If we can put aside self, our penchant for self-aggrandizement, and our selfish motives, it may not change our actions all that much.  A lot of times we do the right thing, yet the veil is over our hearts and we fail to discern the Lord behind the one He has brought into our path or fail to recognize that He has opened this door for us to know Him more intimately.  

As we have talked about before, sometimes we pass by the guy with a cardboard sign while other times we might find ourselves handing him a dollar or two.  Rather than concerning ourselves with whether he is going to buy a bottle of Night Train or a bag of beans to feed his kids, we know we have given it to the Lord.  The other soul, like us, is a free moral agent who must give account for his own actions and intentions.  

None of this makes me passive or a pacifist.  Sometimes the Way (still reading The Tao of Christ) leads us into confrontation, but we are not defending or protecting self.  We, as Paul told Timothy, may have to be God’s instruments to reprove, correct, and train in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).  Sometimes the righteous have to defend the innocent against those who have chosen to make their good the doing of wickedness.  Sometimes we all need our butts kicked.  Sometimes wickedness must be stopped.  Nevertheless, regardless of the means we have to use, we are to do it God’s way, at His time.    

As Jesus explained in the parable of the Good Samaritan, if we are walking down the road and see a guy in the ditch, we can be sure right away that he is our neighbor.  God didn’t throw that man into the ditch, but He did put us on that road.