Jesus was intentional about caring for people, especially excluded and forgotten people. Do you find that often your method of loving on people or helping them or serving them is accidental? It’s not necessarily planned. It just “sort of” happens…by accident. Now, that’s not always a bad thing. It’s refreshingly surprising when an opportunity raises its head and you seize the day and make it happen.
I’ve heard people say, “I don’t like to help or serve the hopeless and the hungry during the holidays because that’s when everyone does it.” I appreciate what they’re trying to say. We should make it a habit of loving and serving people all year long. But what they may fail to understand is this. It may take that one Thanksgiving Day service project that can light a fire in a person’s heart to lean more into loving like Jesus all year long. One dinner turns into another and another. There is often is a defining moment in a person’s life when they see what they never saw before. When they feel like they never felt before. When they do what they’ve never done before. God uses those times greatly. That person just might become the “hands and feet” of Jesus to the forgotten in their community.
When we become intentional in our love to people, delightful things happen. And as much as I like surprises, there’s a deeper satisfaction that settles in when you schedule and intentionally extend Jesus’ love to others.
Janet and I are recipients of your intentional love. Your prayers and financial support are amazing. So this Thanksgiving, as we love people, as we help people, as we feed people, as we clothe people, continue to let God use you today to make a difference in a person’s life, especially with the multitudes of forgotten people in your community. We love and appreciate you more than words.