May 14, 2020
Mark 8:1-3
During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said,  “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
New International Version (NIV)
What should Christians care about?  Should we care about people’s material needs or about their salvation?  I know.  This is a softball question for Baptists.  It is all about the saving of souls.  Since I was a boy I have heard preachers make this clear.  Get people saved.  That is what matters.

Then I read passages like this one.  It turns out that Jesus cared for the whole person.  Truly, he wanted all to come to know his Father.  But Jesus had compassion on the hungry and the sick and the oppressed.  It turns out that people who are starving have a hard time hearing the message of life over the growls of their stomachs.  Jesus fed 5000 people.  Later he fed 4000 people.  But why?  Because Jesus really cared.

It turns out that this is not an either/or choice.  If we love God we must also love our neighbors.  Early on in this battle with the unseen enemy Covid-19, I realized that the poor would be disproportionately affected.  Not all in our city and world can simply move their jobs online from home.  Some are being furloughed.  Others have been let go.  Even before this so many children in our city were food insecure.  Does Jesus care?  He does.  Do we?  What will we do in Jesus’ name to help people today?

To paraphrase Edward Everett Hale, “I am only one.  But I am one.  I can’t do everything.  But I can do something.  And what I can do, by the grace of God, I will do.”  You too?
Pray with me:         
Father, we thank you that our Lord Jesus saw the needs of people and cared for them.  In our zeal to save souls, help us not to lose sight of the vast humanitarian need in our world, especially in this time.  Let our hearts be broken by the things that break your heart.  Help us to see our resources as ways to care for others in Jesus’ name so that when we see you someday you will say to us, “I was hungry and you fed me; . . . when you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.”  Show us yourself we pray.  And give us the grace to lead people into relationship with you by doing what you did:  caring.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.    
Join us in memorizing the Word.  Scripture for this week:    
Matthew 5:40-42
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.  If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan.  Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG 
We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week.  In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year.  Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.  
Joyfully, 
Duane 
About Duane Archives
 Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved.
Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
555 Tallowood Road
Houston, TX | 77024 US
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.
Subscribe to our email list.