Meeting Needs

I saw my neighbor this morning when I was out walking.
It was very cold and I was bundled up quite well.
I am so glad my coat has a hood because it keeps my neck warm.

My neighbor and I caught up a bit.
She had a cute wool hat on her head.
I told her how much I liked it.

One of the women in our church makes them.
We sell them and donate the money to a family whose little girl has leukemia.
Actually, half of the money goes to that family and half goes to another family who just took in three orphans…bringing the total to nine children in their home.

After we said our goodbyes, I thought about all she had said.
If I was cynical, I could say…how could selling winter hats make a difference?

How could it not?

If we always think in terms of the bottom line, you would have to sell a lot of hats.
If we think in Kingdom terms, even one hat…made with love…from the heart…matters.

This little church is in my town.
It is a small church with a small congregation.
Yet, it is big in outreach!

The women get together in the spring and make delicious chocolate Easter eggs.
You can choose peanut butter or coconut filled eggs.
The women spend a few days making the homemade eggs in the church’s kitchen.
The eggs are sold in various locations throughout our community.

The size of the church does not matter.
The size of the need does!
This church knows that it can meet those needs…one person at a time.
In the meeting of the need, Jesus’ love is demonstrated.

This is the way the church should be!

All throughout our communities, there are needs.
Living among people, we know where the needs are.
What better way to meet those needs than through the local church?
Being HIS Hands and Feet to those that need His ministry of love and compassion.

Once, people always looked to the church to help them.
Now, the government is taking on the role of benevolent benefactor.

Government will never be able to do that well.
There is no heart when there are only programs.
Programs that look to numbers and statistics for their existence.
Programs that very rarely see the person behind the numbers.

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Luke 12:7)

The God who knows the number of hairs on our head…knows our every need.
A government, with its many programs, herds people like cattle.
Get them in…process them…move them through.
Never seeing the person that stands behind the need.

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
(Matthew 6:8)

Only God can know our deepest needs.
He created us after all.
God doesn’t anticipate our needs based on empirical data.
He knows our needs!
He begins to meet our needs before the need even reaches our lips.

What great love!

Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame. If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:7,8)

God’s Word tells us to take care of our own families.
God’s Word tells us to meet the needs of others whenever and wherever we can.

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. (Proverbs 14:31)

Giving to the poor was considered an act of worship.
How far we have fallen!

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. (Luke 6:20-26)

Blessings and woes.
Jesus laid out the expectations of His Kingdom.
Where are we as a nation?
Where are we as a church?

One hat…one need…one person.
Benevolent blessings.
Kingdom expansion.