Painful lesson
I think this is one lesson that i will find it difficult to forget. Rhema, Choy Quin and i was sitting at the famous 'ice kacang & asam laksa' shop (Penang Street). As we were enjoying our food there was this two kids who came by begging for money. They didn't say anything, just held out their hands. Immediately i was caught unguarded, not knowing what to do. Finally, after a short time of hesitation, i gave them some money....but my heart was very unsettled. Did i do the right thing? What was God calling me to do?
As i sat at the table, i lost my enthusiasm to eat. Indeed, as i thought about it i discovered that i was so slow in responding to what was in the heart of God. I should have asked the kids to sit on our table and given them a good meal.
You may be wonder why am i feeling so bad about this entire situation. As i reflected on the matter i discovered that i was too pre-occuppied with food that i missed God's Will. How very different Jesus was when He said that His food is to do the Will of God.
As i sat at the table, i lost my enthusiasm to eat. Indeed, as i thought about it i discovered that i was so slow in responding to what was in the heart of God. I should have asked the kids to sit on our table and given them a good meal.
You may be wonder why am i feeling so bad about this entire situation. As i reflected on the matter i discovered that i was too pre-occuppied with food that i missed God's Will. How very different Jesus was when He said that His food is to do the Will of God.
posted by Pastorpher at 9:58 am
6 Comments:
hey Pastopher, Ben here JS05, i actually had the same thinking about asking them to sit down some last week ago...too bad i never get to meet beggars while eating after i had that thought...
i wanna ask a question... now we know how to react when we are eating and a beggar comes by, but how do we need to react when we're standing in a place and a beggar comes up to us?
some beggars are now richer than us, has handphones and some with a horrible attitude. but there are those that are really in need.. the problem is that we don't know which is which. how would you react?
Hi Ben! Great to hear from you. Thanks for dropping by. Regarding your question on reaction, i think there are two possible of dealing with it. Firstly, often times it is my policy not to give out any cash to the person. I normally buy some food for any beggar who asks for help. This is because often times people make use of the 'donation' in a wrong way. Secondly, i guess we have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit to know how to respond in such a situation. This is where i failed. After the whole incident ended, i felt God was telling me to show His love to these kids by asking them to sit on our table and eat by our sides. If I would have done this the Love of Christ could have been demonstrated to them. Furthermore, our hearts were also very sad to see them in this situation.
Regarding whether the beggar is rich or not, sometimes we will never really know. Once i heard a godly Christian (Jacky Pullinger) saying that we should do good irrespective what ever the situation is. Ultimately, they have to meet God and be answerable to him.
I hope my respond would be of some help to you. Please do let me know how you feel about what i have just said.
I see... so in conclusion.. if we feel the Holy Spirit asking us to react, we do. if not, there's no such need because some are 'fakes'.
buying food should be the priority instead of cash, huh. that makes sense...
thanks...
hey Ben. regarding the Holy Spirit, i think what i am trying to say is that in all situation we need to listen to what God wants us to do. Sometimes, we are so out of touch with the Holy Spirit that we miss out God's Will in a particular situation. Thanks Ben for taking trouble to keep in touch and leaving your comment. You have encouraged me a great deal by doing this. God bless :)
hey pastor! i can SO relate to how u felt... but at least you didn't just turn them away and continue chowing down on your asam laksa (i want!!!!) (=
do keep blogging!
Thanks May for those words of encouragement. I guess sometimes God has to burn lessons deep down in our hearts in order for it to register. When God does this it not so much to condemn us but to redeem us. I am grateful for what God has taught me through this incident
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