At Our Gates

Daily Reading:  Luke 16

And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores (Luke 16.20)

Devotional Thought:  "At his gate was laid a beggar…" (NIV)

Lazarus was not only poor, but he was quite sick.  He was unable to take care of himself and endured daily pain, rejection, and humiliation.  He was a beggar.  It's all he could do.  We might think it cold and uncaring, but friends and family members would help beggars locate themselves where they could find help, leaving them to beg all day long.  Begging was their social welfare program, and it was expected of good Jewish people to give alms to the poor.

In our day of governmentally run (mis-run?) social welfare programs, we have inoculated ourselves against this expectation.  It has become too easy to say, “Let the government do it,” and then to complain that the government is doing it!  But we cannot – as Christians – escape the plain teaching of Jesus that we are to be compassionate toward the poor and needy… personally.  Paying taxes is not enough.  Jesus calls us to get involved personally. 

What beggars are laid at your gate every day?  There are the financially poor, the emotionally needy, the physically sick, the socially forgotten, the culturally rejected, and the spiritually lost.  How are you helping them?  How are you involved in their lives?  It’s so easy to pass them off to the church and the government, but that is not the way of Jesus.  It is difficult to get involved.  We are fearful.  We don’t know what to do.  But, we never learn until we get started!  There is not a course in compassion.  We just need to start acting in compassionate ways.  God will help you as you start.  Keep your eyes open.  If you do, God will lay a beggar at your gate today.

Prayer: Lord, I recognize that I am a beggar at the gate of God's mercy.  Lay at my gate a fellow beggar today - that together we may find grace to help us in our time of need.  Grant me courage and confidence to respond to the needs I see with the love of Christ.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 140.7-13

7 O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.

8 Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah

9 As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!

10 Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise!

11 Let not the slanderer be established in the land; let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!

12 I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.

13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.