Worthless? Or Priceless?

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ABC has a show called   What Would You Do? that aims to catch folks in a variety of vexing social situations to capture how they react.  Sometimes they catch real people being A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  But mostly—well, not so much.

In this season when we celebrate the death, burial & Resurrection of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ we should ALL be caught red-handed being Amazing For His Glory, right?  Because the real question for Followers of Jesus Christ is simply this: was His sacrifice worthless? Or Priceless?  

Last week as we were locking up the church a young black woman entered the lobby claiming to be homeless and looking for the Food Bank. “We no longer have that here” I responded which is somewhat true because our precious 89-year-old Ruth is no longer able to run it (though we do stock some items for our members). “Well do you have any bottled water?” she asks however a search of the fridge proves fruitless. Now getting somewhat irritated she says “Well can you buy a bucket of chicken for me and my boyfriend?” to which I clutched my purse closer and sprang into full survival mode.  “No I’m sorry we were just leaving” I said and heaved a self-righteous sigh of relief as the door finally locked behind her. 

Seriously??! Suffice to say in that one shameful uber-selfish moment I rendered The Cross utterly worthless. 

Time for a reset. Let’s head back to the Book of James (for the umpteenth time) in the hopes that perhaps this time it will actually make it from my head to my heart: 

James 2:14-17 NASU

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

Suffice to say our discussion of Transformation remains Worthless until we put it into practice through Benevolence. Stay tuned as we dive deep into how best to do that with Brian Fikkert & Steve Corbett’s follow-up book: “Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence: A Practical Guide to Walking with Low-Income People.”

Awesome Lord allow our Faith to become Priceless as it travels the precious last mile from our Heads to Our Hearts & Our Hands & Our Feet For Your Glory! Godspeed! 

In His Accessible Grace,

Linda