A Re-post From Randy Kilgore of Our Daily Bread

On Helping Others

November 14, 2013 — by Randy Kilgore

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Leviticus 19:9-15

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. —Leviticus 19:9

Bible in a Year:
Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 10:19-39

When snowstorms bury the grazing lands, ranchers must feed their herds by hand. As hay is tossed from wagons and trucks, the strongest animals bull their way to the front. Timid or sickly animals get little or no feed unless the rancher intervenes.
Workers in refugee camps and food pantries report a similar pattern. When they open their stores to those in need, the weak and timid may not make it to the front of the line. Like the ranchers, these human lifelines must take steps to ensure that their services reach the feeble, weary, and sick at the edge of society’s attention.
They are carrying out a principle set forth by God long ago. In Leviticus 19, Moses instructed Israel’s farmers and vintners to leave portions of their crops so the poor and the stranger could have something to eat (vv.9-10).
We too can serve as caretakers to the weak and weary. Whether we’re teachers coaxing quiet students to open up, workers coming alongside a struggling co-worker, prisoners looking out for new arrivals, or parents showing attention to their children, we have ways to honor God by helping others.
As we seek to serve those in need, may the grace of God that reached us in our need move us to reach out to others in theirs.

Father, open my eyes to those struggling to have
enough food, enough love, enough hope; then open my
heart to find ways to help them receive love, using my
hands in service to them—and through them, to You.

By serving others, we serve God.