Transcript
A (0:03)
You know, one of the things I love about the podcast format is that I can be with you right now in your present moment. By speaking to you here, I can help you to be aware, hopefully, of how God is with you right now. And in that spirit, I wanted to remember what we spoke about in the church this past weekend. Because when God calls us to be aware of the poor, he's really inviting us to be aware of the person in front of us right now in our life who's asking us to love them in some way. So he's not speaking only about the materially poor or the financially poor, but someone who may look for our attention or for our affection or for us to listen to them or to provide for them. Of course, perhaps more dramatically or outwardly to clothe them, but even just to visit them, if not to feed them. And Jesus spoke to us clearly about how he's present to us in that person in need. He said, whatever you do for one of these, least of my brethren, you do it for me.
B (1:13)
And we'll say, when did we see you? And he said, I will say to you, I was in the poor, the least of my brethren.
A (1:21)
And he no doubt meant the materially poor. But again, anyone who is asking us to perhaps work with them, cooperate with them, anyone who needs us to serve them in any way, and for the families, it's just being attentive to my spouse, looking at her when she speaks to me, asking him how his day was, sitting with the children, holding them, inviting them to put the phone down for a minute, just to be with them. All these opportunities to be with each other, our opportunities to be with Christ. Then we said this past weekend, not only is Jesus present to us in that person in need, but we need him also to be present to us in our heart, to accomplish the victory that can move us beyond perhaps our pride to associate with people in need and then to be victorious in us, to move us beyond our fear.
B (2:22)
Jesus, come to me and move me beyond my fear, to help me to love the person in front of me.
A (2:30)
The fear of our own inadequacies, the fear of our own not being holy enough or not knowing the right thing to say, the fear of our being a hypocrite by trying to help someone when we ourselves need so much help. So he said, I can sometimes be so consumed by my past, consumed by regret or shame. I really have to commend my past to God's mercy. I can also be so worried about the future, full of anxiety about its uncertainties and its unknown that I get distracted from the present moment and the person in front of me. So I really need to entrust my future to God also.
B (3:08)
And you will, he says, be laying hold of eternal life.