When I Was Hungry

Jesus is all about love. He is love incarnated. In the bible we read about the different miracles and events that took place through Jesus, and if you observe closely, He did these things from a heart of love. Never did he do any healing, or forgiving, or provision from a point of manipulation or from the perspective of anything being owed in return from the person that received it.  Jesus is the personality and essence of who God the Father is, and His actions show forth the Father's heart. That my friend speaks louder than any words you could scream at someone about needing to receive salvation.  If you are a person who displays in your daily life who Christ is, I assure you, that is enough to witness to the world their need for Him.
 
I'm not saying that we should never talk about Jesus, not in the least, but what I am saying is that we all too often, make it an agenda and even the motive behind our giving and good deeds, is to complete the deed with an 'alter call' per se. 
 
Yes, we want everyone to know Jesus, but the most important and powerful way to do that is for everyone to be able to see Jesus us in us, and that is accomplished only by a pure heart and a genuineness in our giving, helping and actions. It is not accomplished by an agenda of selling Him - so to speak - by way of good deeds. Jesus was inspired to help those in need by a genuine compassion and love for people, and that is the very attributes within us that make us genuine with the heart of the Lord. When the world sees Jesus within us for who He truly is, that is when the world will hunger and thirst to know Him as Savior as well.
 
Matthew 25:34-36 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:
 
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'"
 
37-40 "Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me-you did it to me.'"
 
Luke 3:11 "If you have two coats, give one away," he said. "Do the same with your food."
 
James 2:14-17 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
 
Let us love as Jesus loves. Love is action, love has no hidden motive, it's selfless, it's the heart of Jesus.
 
I am very pleased to tell you that the young woman who wrote the following article (slightly over a year ago) is my daughter. I believe the article speaks for itself, and it is my hope that it ministers to your heart as much as it does to mine.
 
Tonight after work I was driving home from Salem, while I was stuck at a red light on missions street, I saw this young girl. I would guess her to be around 25. She held a sign and all that it said was "hungry."  Well I did what everyone else did when the light turned green. I drove away. It was a long day at work. I had a head ache and all I wanted to do is go home and take some Advil. I got about 2 miles down the road and I thought to myself "no one should be left hungry in the cold rain. WWJD?" So I turned around and drove back, parked my car at a gas station and walked up to her on the side of the road. It was pretty awkward at first.
 
"Hey! How's it going?"
"Alriiiight?"
"Soooo, you're hungry?"
(*Shakes her head yes*)
"Alright, let's go get something"
 
She went on to say how she couldn't leave because she was waiting on someone. If that were true or not I don't know. I explained how I didn't have any cash to give her. She understood, and only asked that I would pick something up and bring it back for her. I agreed. She told me what she liked. All she wanted was chicken fingers from Dairy Queen. It was just around the corner. So I just ran over and got her some. Came back and gave it so her. Of course I couldn't just drop the food off and peace out. I had to ask questions.
 
I asked why she was out her. She explained that she just moved from AZ three weeks ago. She came to Salem because that's where her sons dad was and she followed him here just so she can see her son. She said all she wanted is to see her son for the holidays and she didn't care what it meant for her. I asked her if she had a warm place to sleep tonight. She said she was staying with a couple for now, but she had to get her own food and had no money to buy food. She said that's why her sign only said food and not money. She told me that I was the only one that helped her out tonight and she was out there since noon. It was close to 6 pm when we were talking. She said most days people just roll down the window and give her .50 - $1.00 and it takes awhile for her to get enough to even buy a meal. It saddens my heart to know that she was out there for so long and thousands of people saw her and never once stopped to buy her a meal because they have somewhere else to be.
 
I didn't throw the bible at her, I didn't even talk a lot about God. I just loved on her how I could at the moment. As I was leaving, I felt like I suppose to remind her that she would always be taken care of and even in her darkest moments that God loves her so much. She just smiled, hugged and thanked me.
 
I don't know where she is now or if I changed her life. All I know is that she felt loved for that 20 minutes that I was with her. And that's all I wanted. So everybody....Keep loving!!! Go out of your way to love on someone. Even the smallest things are worth it!"
 
- Hannah Furr
 
Sometimes I think we forget that not everyone has been called to bring in the harvest in every occasion. When yielding a crop, there is much to do in the way of preparations. The ground must first be tended to and made ready so that it can receive the seeds. It also needs to be kept nourished so that the seeds can then grow and produce a harvest.  At the time of maturity and as all portions have had their part and worked together, in the right timing, the harvest is made ready.  But oftentimes, just as there are many steps in this process, there are just as often many different workers, working together for the same end result. Today, you may be the one tilling the ground, or planting the seeds, and then another time, you may be the one bringing in the harvest. Whichever step in the process, each one is just as important and needed as the other, and yet, our role may be continuously changing according to the need within the hour of the season. 
 
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us-servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God's field in which we are working.
 
Many Blessings to you all!
Taffie

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