Last week I had an occasion, when, for a few short minutes, I felt very pleased with myself.
Walking into our local blood donor clinic, I was prepared to give the gift of life — my blood!
Recently, the pastors at my church have been giving a series of messages from the practical book of James. The recent theme happened to be on faith.
I heard Pastor Tim read these words: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?
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?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Wow! It made me stop and consider how well I was doing on that subject.
Resting on the assurance of God’s Word that we are justified, (declared righteous) before God by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), yet it seems obvious genuine faith will produce good deeds.
That’s just the way it’s suppose to work.
Pastor Tim then presented two practical ways we hearers could become doers — helping and blessing some of our valuable community helpers.
One way, was to donate life-giving blood to our much-needed blood bank. The other, by tossing our coins into a bucket, it would pay for complimentary coffees for the doctors and nurses at our local hospital — a small thank you for their tireless efforts in serving us.
So, back to my blood donating experience.
Feeling that I am a healthy, though an older donor, (now no age restrictions apply) I was expecting my gift to be readily received. But as they heard of my colorectal (cancer) surgery two years ago — even though I received no chemotherapy treatments — I learned I cannot be a donor for three more years, five years in total.
Hmm. I began to reason with myself, “How old will that make me? Maybe by then I just won’t feel like getting out of bed that day, to keep that donor appointment!”
Time will tell. Meanwhile, upon their gracious suggestion — no doubt seeing my disappointment — I may consider being a different kind of volunteer at our local blood donor clinic.
I believe it is the quiet work we do in the lives of people that will live long after we are gone.
I know there are many opportunities to help our fellow-travellers along this highway we’re all on, called life.
As I remember whose child I am, it should then be my natural response to reach out to others in love. Not so that God will add brownie points to my name, but that I just might become a little more fashioned in His image.
Matthew’s gospel (Matt. 25:40) reminds me, “The King will say, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers (or sisters) of mine, you did for me.'"
I just returned from bringing my neighbour home from an emergency hospital visit, having taken her there six hours earlier.
Strange, but my decision to miss church today, really wasn’t my decision after all. Hedy needed me!
“In my heart I planned the course of my day, but the Lord determined my steps.” — Proverbs 16:9 (my paraphrase)
— beulah
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