What Will You Do Today?
Scripture – Luke 14:7-14: 7When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Reflection: One of the neat things happening in our society these days is the growing popularity of random acts of kindness. The idea is to do something nice for someone without letting them know. The hardest part of that is to keep it to myself. My human nature leads me to tell someone at some time.
Several years ago I was given a great example of this. A woman connected with our church called me and said she wanted to do something nice for someone. She sent me some money, and asked that it be used to buy a gift for someone who needed a little encouragement. She didn’t want to know who that would be. She just gave the money.
I shared this with our Deacons here at Bethel – only telling them we had an anonymous donation and this was how it was to be used. They thought of a woman in our church who was in the midst of a very hard time in her life. So they bought her a nice sweater – a simple thing that she would like, yet she would not buy for herself. She was delighted. It gave her just the kind of pick-me-up the donor hoped for.
I’ve never forgotten this. The giver never knew who received. The receiver had no idea who gave. I think this is the kind of thing Jesus was talking about here. What random thing can you do for someone today? Will you do it? And will you keep it to yourself?
Reflection: One of the neat things happening in our society these days is the growing popularity of random acts of kindness. The idea is to do something nice for someone without letting them know. The hardest part of that is to keep it to myself. My human nature leads me to tell someone at some time.
Several years ago I was given a great example of this. A woman connected with our church called me and said she wanted to do something nice for someone. She sent me some money, and asked that it be used to buy a gift for someone who needed a little encouragement. She didn’t want to know who that would be. She just gave the money.
I shared this with our Deacons here at Bethel – only telling them we had an anonymous donation and this was how it was to be used. They thought of a woman in our church who was in the midst of a very hard time in her life. So they bought her a nice sweater – a simple thing that she would like, yet she would not buy for herself. She was delighted. It gave her just the kind of pick-me-up the donor hoped for.
I’ve never forgotten this. The giver never knew who received. The receiver had no idea who gave. I think this is the kind of thing Jesus was talking about here. What random thing can you do for someone today? Will you do it? And will you keep it to yourself?
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