Blessings

Some very real situations seem so incredible that they could belong to a fairy tale. DELFO CABRERA, an Argentinian fireman, wanted to take part in the London Olympics of 1948 but couldn't afford the air fare. His workmates 'took up an offering' and paid for him to go. He repaid their support by coming home with a gold medal in the Marathon.

By now we've already lost some readers for today. They saw the word 'offering'; others of you are about to stop reading for today  too... Yes, all joking apart, collections, offerings and so on don't always get good press. But don't worry; we're not going to deal with that side of things. Rather, today we're going to be looking at the need and privilege that is ours to be a blessing to others. Yes, even though we've read that God's streams don't run dry (and some have first-hand knowledge of this), it would appear that our own streams do often dry up, given the fact that we can come up with tons of reasons not to give, not to be a blessing to others.

We are forgetting that God has said that not doing good when we can is as big a sin as actually doing evil. If someone near you is going through hard times and you do nothing to help, you are committing a sin tantamount to robbing them. To God it's that clear. There are times when people are totally dependent on others for help. Have we forgotten that money invested in helping others is the best investment ever? Think for a moment: whatever your possessions are now, you'll leave them behind when you're gone; but whatever you have given to help others will follow you to heaven as a testimony. Is that clear enough?

Now don't go thinking that in heaven we're going to have material wealth. But Jesus did teach that we should store up treasure in heaven and there's some important teaching here. If you want to keep, or waste, your money and not help anyone, fine. However, remember that you'll also reap the consequences.

God calls us to be a blessing to others. So go on - bless someone today!