Subtitle: Consider exchanging some television time for a chance to bring the gospel to life for someone.

Excerpt: Consider exchanging some television time for a chance to bring the gospel to life for someone.

Author: Rich Holt

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Haggai 1:5, ” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways!’ “

Background

My wife and I went with some others from work recently to volunteer at the Food Bank. About a dozen of us joined with almost thirty others to bag up meals of rice and beans that would be distributed to the elderly among thirty-four counties in the state. When we arrived, the other volunteers were just beginning to show up, and as they did, I couldn’t help but wonder what brought each of them there for that two hours. Some came by themselves while others arrived with a friend. Certain ones were there to perform mandatory community service, but the vast majority seemed to be there out of a sincere desire to help the less fortunate. And it was shocking to hear that after we had stood at our tables for what seemed like only a few minutes, scooping the beans and the rice and the spices to a precise weight of 258 to 260 grams, that we had prepared enough meals to feed over 10,000 people. Just like that, in the amount of time it takes to watch a movie or wash your cars, a group of people, perhaps the number you might find in a grocery store at one time, had helped feed more people than live in six of our state’s counties.

Application

And it brought home the point, as I thought about the ones dependent on those beans and rice, as I listened to the random conversations of the volunteers, that we need to consider our ways and take more serious how we choose to spend our time. We need to fill our days with activities that have a purpose. We need to draw ourselves out of our routines and mindless habits and give back some of our blessings to those who are here to enable us to do that very thing. We need to make a conscious effort to make the lives better of those who suffer beyond our circle of comfort and out of our line of sight. The volunteers at the Food Bank for the year do the work of seventy full-time employees. One person at a time for one hour at a time. Your days have a lot of potential, so consider your ways. Consider how your ways can influence the ways of someone who might not have a choice.

Charge

As we seek Him today, ask God to lead you to where you can lend a hand. Consider exchanging some television time for a chance to bring the gospel to life for someone.