God says, I will measure my people by the one
standard that counts. It’s very simple.
Are people hungry? Feed them. Are people sick? Help them.
Are people oppressed? Stick up
for them. Are the widows lonely? Visit them.
Are there uneducated children?
Teach them. Are people rejected
because of the color of their skin?
Befriend them.
The widow of
Zarephath fed Elijah even though she had but a handful of flour and a little
oil in a jug (1 Kings 12:7-24). In this
story she is recklessly generous. She
gives the last of what she has to Elijah.
We should all
pause occasionally to see if we are living with that kind of generous spirit .
Maybe we have an abundance of oil and flour in our jars. Maybe we only have a little. Maye we have a huge flour jar, or perhaps a
very small one. No matter what we have,
we can still learn to live with a generous spirit.
--John Ortberg
Image source: Bernardo Strozzi, Prophet Elijah and the
Widow of Sarepta (1630),
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