Beyond a beggar

by Jonathan Krause

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How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? (1 John 3:17)

Read 1 John 3:16–24

The lady was a widow and a beggar.

When I met her in a little village in remote Bangladesh, she showed me the handful of rice she’d begged for that morning. Then she gestured for me to sit down while she cooked it for us to share.

I’d come from one of the world’s richest countries, from a comfortable house, a beautiful family, and all of the things you and I take for granted as essentials – clean, fresh water at the turn of a tap, a supermarket full of endless food choices, electricity to keep us warm and cool and entertained.

This lady was a widow and a beggar.

I’d come to thank her. She had come into the aid agency with a few coins she’d gathered, and handed them over, demanding we use them to help ‘the poor people’.

Despite her own condition, she saw others in more need than herself and gave the little she had for them. What love!

I took her photo and shared her story back in Australia. A few months later, a 17-year-old girl wrote to me and told me how that widow beggar had changed her life. It inspired her to change her career choice, from a high-flying, high-paid legal job to a social worker so that she could help others.

When we reflect God’s love for us by extending it to others, we should never be surprised by the impact this love can have.

Working at ALWS, I’ve seen how it goes beyond the practical impact we may have on our ‘brother or sister in need’. The hope we can bring, the reassurance that someone cares – this can be inspiration for life.

So, if we choose not to help someone in need, while we may keep the money with which we’ve been blessed, we also miss out on the joy that comes when we bring love to life for others.

Just like so much of what Jesus teaches us, that can seem challenging or countercultural or simply go against our human instincts.

Yet I’ve learnt that loving our neighbour can be freeing, inspiring and an example to all those around us of what God’s love means in our lives.

Even if we are ‘only’ a widow and a beggar.

Jesus, your life shows me how I should live my life for others. Please give me your strength to do this, hold me to account when I don’t and keep showing me the joy when love comes to life. Amen.

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