Thursday, September 25, 2008
the widow's offering
I met some friends tonight for dinner at a pizza place on the drag and was disappointed to realize they no longer offered a "pizza by the slice" deal. With leftovers for the weekend in mind, I forked over the money for a 10 inch pepperoni pizza with tomatoes and artichoke hearts. As we were getting ready to leave, I noticed my friend was getting ready to throw her last 2 slices away just because she had picked off and eaten all the toppings. In typical college student fashion (we live for free food), I salvaged her slices and added them to my take-home box which already contained about half of my own pizza.
As I walked with my friends down the drag, a homeless man noticed the pizza box sitting comfortably under my arm and gently stopped me with a request for any food I could spare. Without even thinking, I opened my box and handed him my friend's 2 slices - the food that she had been about to throw away. As I was handing it to him, the man mentioned that he normally gets dinner from a church every Thursday but he missed it tonight and was very hungry. I sensed the genuineness in his voice and in that moment, was very grateful I could tangibly provide for his immediate need. However, as I caught up to my friends I started to think...
"Why didn't I give him some of MY pizza?"
In that moment I remembered one of the most straightforward lessons God had convicted me of this summer at Student Life camp: that God delights in us when we give out of our best and most valuable possessions, not just out of our abundance of wealth (Mark 12:41-44). After all, all I gave him was essentially cheese pizza and the pizza I had ordered was not only more fresh (I had gotten to the place 30 minutes later than everyone else), but it had meat and vegetable toppings which was more substantial and contained more protein. As I pondered this, another question entered my head,
"Why didn't I just give him the whole box?"
The whole box could have fed him for another day or two instead of simply 1 meal. I almost felt ashamed about forgoing such a unique opportunity to bless someone else. Not that I am condemning my action, but I really believe this incident was a divine appointment from God that He specifically purposed to reveal Truth to me.
Lord, my heart is pure. Open my eyes to more opportunities to honor You by giving my best to the "least of these."
As I walked with my friends down the drag, a homeless man noticed the pizza box sitting comfortably under my arm and gently stopped me with a request for any food I could spare. Without even thinking, I opened my box and handed him my friend's 2 slices - the food that she had been about to throw away. As I was handing it to him, the man mentioned that he normally gets dinner from a church every Thursday but he missed it tonight and was very hungry. I sensed the genuineness in his voice and in that moment, was very grateful I could tangibly provide for his immediate need. However, as I caught up to my friends I started to think...
"Why didn't I give him some of MY pizza?"
In that moment I remembered one of the most straightforward lessons God had convicted me of this summer at Student Life camp: that God delights in us when we give out of our best and most valuable possessions, not just out of our abundance of wealth (Mark 12:41-44). After all, all I gave him was essentially cheese pizza and the pizza I had ordered was not only more fresh (I had gotten to the place 30 minutes later than everyone else), but it had meat and vegetable toppings which was more substantial and contained more protein. As I pondered this, another question entered my head,
"Why didn't I just give him the whole box?"
The whole box could have fed him for another day or two instead of simply 1 meal. I almost felt ashamed about forgoing such a unique opportunity to bless someone else. Not that I am condemning my action, but I really believe this incident was a divine appointment from God that He specifically purposed to reveal Truth to me.
Lord, my heart is pure. Open my eyes to more opportunities to honor You by giving my best to the "least of these."
Labels: faith
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