It could take an eternity to discover the complete answer to that question, but here's some of what scripture says about it.
Care about the rights of the poor. (Proverbs 29:7)
Take care of widows who don't have anyone else. (1 Timothy 5:3)
Give according to what you have (2 Corinthians 8:12)
Do to others what you would have them do to you
Give to anyone who asks
Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you (Luke 6:27-35)
Help the poor (Proverbs 14:31)
Share each others burdens (Galatians 6:2)
Feed my sheep (John 21:17)
... It's the last one that got me the most, because it was spoken to my heart this week.
I've asked countless times, "Lord, what should I DO?!?" This time I hesitated to ask, afraid of His answer. I thought I'd been sincere until now, but this time I earnestly wanted to do anything He asked. Through tears and with trembling, I asked again.
'Feed my sheep'
I knew that neither my flesh nor the Enemy would give me such an instruction.
I also knew that God is intimately acquainted with all my weakness and faults and inability, so didn't argue. (for once)
"Who are your sheep Lord?"
'Believers scattered abroad' (James 1:1)
'How?'
I felt as though the time for that answer was not now, but would come in His time.
Then this morning I read John 21:17,
"A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.""
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.""
and Ezekial 34:1-10
"Then this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? 3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. 5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. 6 They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them. 7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. 9Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey."
I'm not sure what it all means, but I believe it's all connected. I believe it's also of great and eternal importance to obey God without hesitation. (I also believe that each of these instructions applies globally and locally; not one rather than the other, but both.)
Lord, thank you for speaking to my heart. Please make clear to me who, when and what to feed. ... and how. Please have patience with me. I don't want to become a fat sheep at the expense of the scrawny. Forgive me for my selfishness and greed. Help me to give and love others the way you would - the way you do. Teach me how to feed others and to deny myself for their sake. Give me a heart overflowing with your love. Thank you Jesus, that you love your sheep and search for them where they've scattered.
Lord, I'm afraid - of the pain of separation from worldly desires. I'm not excited about it and resist it. But you say it is better to lose one part of my body than for the whole thing to be thrown into hell. Lord, I would rather suffer the pain of your training than the pain of your judgment, but I'm scared anyway. Your love is perfect, and I trust you. I will obey.
3 comments:
My dear friend Kimberly, keep on doing what you do here and elsewhere so effectively, sharing your intimate relationship with the Lord with us. Don't look for the next big way to go, or way to feed, He will manifest it in His time for you. Do not worry.
Worldly desires are nothing but habitual thoughts, become aware of each individual habit and break it.
Alisa over at Faith Imagined this week wrote about taking the seed and leaving the rest. Well between the two of you I have been fed and given seed to plant so that I may not only feed myself but others.
You and she should open a "feed & seed store" or maybe collaborate on some collective works. :)
Unknowngnome - thank you so much for your encouragement. It's funny; sometimes I wonder why anyone would care to glimpse this confused journey...
This week I was amazed by the story I'd heard a hundred times - Jesus fed 5000 people with 1 basket of food. Even though it was not enough by any imagination, the boy brought it forward anyway. He gave what he had, and God was the one who multiplied it.
It's humbling to bring what I have, realizing it's not enough, but trusting God to multiply it as only He can. You said it: 'He will manifest it'
Thank you again for your life giving words.
We walk the same path of journey.
:)
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