FOLLOW ME

Jesus knew that his ministry was amongst a searching and needy society. Nothing has changed. John Wesley knew that, William Wilberforce knew that, Florence Nightingale knew that, William Booth knew that, and Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta knew that only too well. They, and thousands like them, knew what Jesus meant when he said 'follow me'.

I once shared a soup and sandwich meal at a city mission. It was an experience, sitting down with winos and the destitute. The only visible Christian presence was the giving of thanks before the meal and a few posters on the wall. The invisible presence was Jesus who had called the 65 people who help at the mission, who themselves are comfortably off and yet were ladling out soup, scrubbing floors and tables and waiting on the down-and-outs. These were the people who had thought and prayed about their various gifts and heeded the call when Jesus said 'follow me'.

We sometimes doubt our calling. Like the priest who found a young boy in the street, hungry, poorly clothed and obviously homeless. "God" he demanded furiously, "why do you allow this to happen? Why don't you do something about it? Don't you give a damn?" And in his mind he heard the voice of God. "I do care" he was told, "and I've done something about it. I created you."

We need to remember that God put us here to deal with such situations, just as he created Wesley, Wilberforce, Nightingale, Mother Teresa, the priest. God doesn't create such situations - society does - but God has given each of us gifts to deal with them and to help others. We are his hands and feet, his voice. And we can chose to believe that or not. Either we believe in love, virtue and hope, or we believe in hate, evil and hopelessness.

Have a good week. Pastor Ron.

A companion Bible study is available as page 2 of the weekly message. Click here for that study.

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