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It is important that we keep in mind that our life is not only meant to be
used to better ourselves, but should also be used for the betterment of
others who are around us. We should never look down upon those who are
less fortunate than we are, but rather we are to treat all people as we
would want to be treated and love them with the love of the Lord.
The Lord Jesus says that even the smallest gesture done to someone else in
need is the same as if we are doing it to the Lord Himself. The next time
you are doing a good deed, imagine the Lord as the recipient because if we
could see with spiritual eyes, we would see the Lord in that instant.
I hope today's message ministers to your heart to be giving and caring
towards your fellow man because we are all God's children and will receive
a just reward for the deeds that were done on the earth. (Matthew 25:34-40)
MY FATHER’S ANGELS
I wasn't paying attention at the time to the good example my father set.
He wasn't consciously 'setting a good example' -- he was just living life
according to his values.
It was the 1950s in a small Middle Georgia farm town. Our family owned a
clothing store in the middle of the main business block downtown. Six days
a week, 8am until 6pm (9pm on Saturday), my father presided over his
business. And sometimes an angel would come to our store. I didn't
recognize those visitors as angels. Neither did my mother, who accepted my
father's decisions but referred to Daddy's angels as “bums”.
She was concerned that they painted hobo marks to guide others to my
father. My father was, and still is, an extremely kind man. He bought them
lunch. I guess Daddy knew Mama's opinion and took precautions in case any
individual “angel” might actually be an alcoholic. He would have a
friendly, encouraging conversation with the person, who was shabby and
obviously down on his luck.
Then Daddy would walk him across the street to the Coffee Cup Cafe and pay
for him to eat the daily special, a hearty meal. Depending on how the
conversation was going, Daddy would sometimes sit and have lunch with him.
Another variation on this theme was sometimes Daddy would bring the man to
our house to do yard work to earn a bus ticket.
Mama would feed him a good home cooked meal but would serve it to him in
the kitchen or on the back steps. Daddy explained his theory of angels to
his children this way: “It's Biblical. Sometimes God sends an angel among
men unawares, to test us. How we behave toward the least of his children
is how we treat Him.”
I remember chuckling at my “naive” father's actions later when I got more
grown and more savvy. I laughed that he got it backwards about who the
angel was. Now that I am middle-aged, I'm proud to say that I realize how
blessed I am to have such a wise and good man, Joseph Van Johnson, as my
father and my teacher. I am also doubly blessed to be meeting angels now
myself.
More than once I have recognized God Himself staring back at me from the
face of a homeless mentally ill person. I understand now that my father was
respecting the spirit of God that is within each of us.
By Kay Johnson McCrary
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus declares “Ye are the light of the world. A city that
is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it
under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are
in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Hebrews 13:1-3 “Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them
that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as
being yourselves also in the body.”
Galatians 6:1-4 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are
spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so
fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when
he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work,
and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”
Hebrews 10:22-24 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;) And let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works.”
Psalm 37:23-25 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He
delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down:
for the LORD upholdeth him with His hand. I have been young, and now am
old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: JUDGE GENTLY
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem180.htm
Today's Selected Testimony: THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony48.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry |
