Fifty Lbs. of Potatoes How much does it weigh?
New beginnings
The other day at our pantry, a ministry that our church body has instituted for needy people, they were giving out fifty pound bags of potatoes to anybody who could use them. These were bagged at the processing facility and the church body made them available…this is a good ministry. Afterwards I was sitting in our car waiting for my beloved when I noticed a couple carrying out their booty which included a fifty pound bag of potatoes.
The man carried them nearly all the way to the end of the driveway and I could see that he was struggling with the load that he was carrying upon his shoulder. He stopped and set them down, a distance of maybe fifty meters. I was listening to a CD from the Crabbe family singing about God’s love and I felt a prodding from the Spirit to go and pick this couple up and their potatoes and other food goods that they had just been given.
Now you’ve got to understand that this guy had tried to con me for some money one time before and we gave him an extra bag of food and besides they were not perhaps the cleanest people I had seen and so I guess that I was trying to justify my still sitting there arguing with the Lord. It was at this point that my wife came out of the church house and the gentleman asked her if she had a car…and she did not hear him as to what his request had been and it was also at this point that I lost the argument with the Lord and I said to him,” just wait there and I will take you and your potatoes home. So I picked up the bag of potatoes and put them in the trunk and told the man and his lady friend to hop in the car and we took them home, a block or two away. When we got there he let me get the potatoes out of the trunk and take them up one flight of stairs to their flat. I had asked the gentleman if he had a heart condition and he said no. So I asked if he had back trouble and he said no. And then I realized I was building a case for judging him and the Lord reminded me this morning of these words from James’ epistle.
Why do I tell you all this? . Because in the last blog entry I quoted from CH.12 VERSE 8 “If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly” There is a rule in the Bible that Jesus instituted, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The world says, “Do others before they do you.” That is not God’s way. On the flip side of the coin, it is not God’s way to take advantage over another either. Having said that Jesus has commanded us to go the second mile and it doesn’t matter that we may be taken advantage of. What matters is that we show kindness. It was Jesus, wasn’t it who said, “Insomuch as ye have done it unto these little ones…you have done it unto me?
The apostle James writes in chapter two beginning at verse
1 “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Let’s not confuse what James is saying here, he is not saying that all poor people are righteous and all well to do are not righteous, he is saying that it is wrong to judge people by showing partiality. Whether rich or poor; I have heard folks put down others simply because they are well to do. And that is just as bad as the oppression of poor folks.
Had I NOT OBEYED THE Lord that day and assisted them with their load, I’m afraid that fifty pound bag of potatoes would still be weighing heavily on my conscience. Again the Word from James ch. 5 verse 17…Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. NRSV.
New beginnings
The other day at our pantry, a ministry that our church body has instituted for needy people, they were giving out fifty pound bags of potatoes to anybody who could use them. These were bagged at the processing facility and the church body made them available…this is a good ministry. Afterwards I was sitting in our car waiting for my beloved when I noticed a couple carrying out their booty which included a fifty pound bag of potatoes.
The man carried them nearly all the way to the end of the driveway and I could see that he was struggling with the load that he was carrying upon his shoulder. He stopped and set them down, a distance of maybe fifty meters. I was listening to a CD from the Crabbe family singing about God’s love and I felt a prodding from the Spirit to go and pick this couple up and their potatoes and other food goods that they had just been given.
Now you’ve got to understand that this guy had tried to con me for some money one time before and we gave him an extra bag of food and besides they were not perhaps the cleanest people I had seen and so I guess that I was trying to justify my still sitting there arguing with the Lord. It was at this point that my wife came out of the church house and the gentleman asked her if she had a car…and she did not hear him as to what his request had been and it was also at this point that I lost the argument with the Lord and I said to him,” just wait there and I will take you and your potatoes home. So I picked up the bag of potatoes and put them in the trunk and told the man and his lady friend to hop in the car and we took them home, a block or two away. When we got there he let me get the potatoes out of the trunk and take them up one flight of stairs to their flat. I had asked the gentleman if he had a heart condition and he said no. So I asked if he had back trouble and he said no. And then I realized I was building a case for judging him and the Lord reminded me this morning of these words from James’ epistle.
Why do I tell you all this? . Because in the last blog entry I quoted from CH.12 VERSE 8 “If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly” There is a rule in the Bible that Jesus instituted, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The world says, “Do others before they do you.” That is not God’s way. On the flip side of the coin, it is not God’s way to take advantage over another either. Having said that Jesus has commanded us to go the second mile and it doesn’t matter that we may be taken advantage of. What matters is that we show kindness. It was Jesus, wasn’t it who said, “Insomuch as ye have done it unto these little ones…you have done it unto me?
The apostle James writes in chapter two beginning at verse
1 “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Let’s not confuse what James is saying here, he is not saying that all poor people are righteous and all well to do are not righteous, he is saying that it is wrong to judge people by showing partiality. Whether rich or poor; I have heard folks put down others simply because they are well to do. And that is just as bad as the oppression of poor folks.
Had I NOT OBEYED THE Lord that day and assisted them with their load, I’m afraid that fifty pound bag of potatoes would still be weighing heavily on my conscience. Again the Word from James ch. 5 verse 17…Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. NRSV.
posted by Randall | 5:53 a.m.
3 Comments:
When I think of rich or poor and try and compare I think of.....Isaiah 64/6
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
We must stop looking at one another as different.......GOD looks at us all the same .......filthy rags.........so lets not judge anyone by their appearance..........or be he rich or poor
I think if the thought is there to help someone.........lets not look for a reason not to....just help.....I believe this is GOD'S way and he wants it to be ours.......Help someone [ you will really like it ]
My wife just read this comment and said.......I don't think God thinks of us as [filthy rags ] I told her....you can't argue with the "BOOK"....its like arguing with god.....he wins-----everytime..........everyone who reads the blogs has their thoughts [comments] so why not comment......your thoughts might be just what I need to get me through the day
Coffee
It was a good laugh at the part where you carried the potatoes up the stairs; I had to go back and concentrate on the rest of the message.
Living here in the Philippines you have to develop a sense of humor but not be insensitive to the poor.
The sad fact is we will always have the poor among us because of sin.
The following scripture was directed at the disciples in the last days of Jesus on earth, but the first part applies today.
Matthew 26:11. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
If you look at the life of a poor person; what generally is missing in their life? (Christ). For without him you can live a life that is not only poor in the physical but worse; poor in the spirit.
Remember “let us not be weary in well doing” and when your lifting potatoes again quote Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. : )
Thanks for the laugh, I needed that.
Dale
Hi Randall
You know that old saying:
YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY It's COVER,but that is what we all do
sometimes.
We see a panhandler on the street
and we think "get a job".
We don't stop to think why is that
person on the street.
It is unfortunate but true that
for the working poor they are only
1 or 2 paycheques away from having
no were to live or no food for their familys.Just a layoff of afew
weeks can mean the differents in
having and not having for them.
Instead of judging people we have
to start to see them as God does.
We don't think"but for the grace of God go I".
I want to thank you for putting
your faith into action.
You could have so easily looked
at your nice clean car and said
I gave them the food,now it is up
to them to get it home.
You showed God's love in that you
did more than your work at the
panrty calls for.You went that
extra step even through it keeped
you late getting home yourself.
You put your faith were your month
is:you acted on it not just talked
about it.Thank you.
C.M.
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