The greatest encouragements to the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry were when He witnessed the small acts of faith present in those who sought Him. We know especially of the Centurion and the lady with the bleeding. Likewise the young gentile woman that spoke with our Savior as He ate at the table, seeking the crumbs that fell to her and her children.
Jesus was often frustrated with the religious people. Those folks who went to synagogue every week, were often in the Temple, doing the things they were supposed to. One of the examples of this that ties into what we noticed above was when the lady with little, but a few mites, gave of her all to the treasury while the wealthy gave more. The particular reason why Jesus marks her out is not because of the percentage of the gift it was due to her faith and the way she silently went about the offering to the poor, for she herself was so. God sees what we do, both for good and for ill, and we should likewise act accordingly. It is good to do good, it is even better to do good without being moved to do so by outside pressure or prodding.
In relation to that in Ephesians 4:28 the Apostle has this to say to the matter, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” While the instant application is literally to the person who used to be a thief, the principle here can be widely applied to every Christian regardless of what they were doing or who they were before their new birth. It is in recognizing that we have been brought out of the dark recesses of sin and misery and into the truly marvelous light of the gospel grace that should move us to give of what we have in the service of others. If someone took the time to help you out in the sharing of the good news why would you stamp out that fire by keeping it to yourself? We look around us and we see all kinds of people who need Jesus, and not in the flippant way we say that sometimes. Again, if there was a time and place where we needed the mercy of the bleeding Redeemer how have we so learned Christ if it has had no effect on the use of the gifts God grants to us in His love?
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount tells us that blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Often in the Christian life we have not because we ask not. We do not feel the presence of the Lord because we do not seek Him. We don’t understand what is going on in the world around us because we don’t study the word. We are weak in our faith because we don’t ask for help from the community God has provided for us to be fed by the milk and meat of the Bible.
If we have true evangelical faith which has saved us then as James the brother of Christ tells us no one is going to need to ask us if we Believe.
It will be evident in our love for one another, for the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and in our desire to order our time and efforts to the Glory of God and the resting and trusting in His means of peace.
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church