While rushing to an appointment, I passed a scruffy beggar with a baby in her arms. It’s a common sight in Caracas, Venezuela, where this took place.
Give her something. I recognized that inner voice as Jesus’.
But she looks like she would spend it on drugs, I protested as I kept walking.
Well then, buy her some food.
Just then I came to a hot dog stand. Okay, I’ll do it for You.
I hurriedly ordered a hot dog and took it back to her. As I handed it to her, I told her that Jesus loved her and offered to pray for her. She accepted, and we bowed our heads and prayed right there on the street.
Several days later I stopped for a hot dog for myself at the same stand, but the vendor wouldn’t let me pay for it. “I saw what you did the other day,” he said. “You not only bought a hot dog for that homeless woman, but you also prayed with her. I’ve been on this spot for 15 years. Thousands of people pass my stand every day, but I had never seen that! You never have to pay to eat here again.”
Like that hot dog vendor, God is always watching, and “your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”1
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.—Jesus, Matthew 22:37–40 NIV
Show love in everything you do.—1 Corinthians 16:14 CEV
A Christian reveals true humility by showing the gentleness of Christ, by being always ready to help others, by speaking kind words and performing unselfish acts, which elevate and ennoble the most sacred message that has come to our world.—Ellen G. White (1827–1915)
- Matthew 6:4 ↑