Food (thoughts from feeding the homeless)

I see it in their faces. I hear it in their voices. They are so grateful for the food being given to them, yet at the same time, they are embarrassed to be asking for help.

One man said to me, "I'm just trying to do the right thing," and trailed off, leaving me standing, waiting for him to elaborate a few minutes later.

He asked me if we had "food to nourish the soul," and that gave me an interesting thought.

When we give help to others and tell them the good news of what Christ has done for us, isn't that exactly what we're doing?

Are we not tending to their souls as well as their physical bodies; showing them the love of Christ; proclaiming the good news in at least our actions?

And moreover, why do we have needs in this life?

I can think of no other primary purpose than to show us how we need to trust God to provide for us.

If we were lacking in nothing, would we not be inclined to simply live our lives independent from others, believing we were above the need for assistance - and, even more, for grace and salvation!

So when we fail to receive all the blessings we would like to have or think we should have, we should reflect instead on God's great mercy in giving us any blessings! We should stop acting like we deserve everything we have, because the simple fact is that we deserve none of it.

And when others need help? We should reach out to them when possible, in wisdom and grace that come only from the Spirit, in an effort to show just a bit of the love that has been heaped upon us.

EDIT:

After speaking with a friend, I realized there are a few things I must point out.

First, I do not mean to downplay that Jesus says we are worth favor and blessing. For the purposes of this post, I emphasized that we should be thankful for the blessings He has given us (and also, not simply because we are blessed, but because He is worthy of all praise!). Perhaps I will explore that later.

Also, our suffering is not a necessity for God to show His goodness, but God uses our suffering for His glory and ultimate good. Suffering results because we live in a fallen world; however, God works through that suffering and pain.

Thus the causal statement is tweaked - our needs show us that we need to trust God to provide for us, rather than needs being introduced in order that we might see. Our fallen state has introduced suffering and need that can only be fulfilled through God.