Worn Out Souls
Dr. Joshua Lau, one of our pediatric physicians, shared a story with the staff of Beacon Christian Community Health Center about a kind soul who only has one foot. He is an amputee and doesn’t have two legs to walk on. The man uses a wheelchair for mobility. He has no logical personal use for “a pair” of shoes and no concern for the soles of his shoes wearing out…Yet, this man was able to comment on Dr. Lau’s shoes as a conversation starter and bring a smile to his face.
“Last Wednesday in Beacon, a father of my patient commented on my shoes. "Clarks...?" He might have added that he liked wearing Clarks shoes. "No, Timberlands... " I replied. We both smiled. Then I looked down at the floor in front of his wheelchair and noticed that he was an amputee. Suddenly his comment and smile meant more to me. He must have gone through a lot in his life, but now he was able to smile about it.”
Dr. Lau observed that although the “stuff” we go through at times is incomparable to the heart-wrenching problems that many of our patient’s experience, we too go through a lot while working hard just to "keep the lights on” and the doors open at Beacon. Then Dr. Lau reflected upon and shared a sermon he’d heard by Pastor Lon Solomon of McLean Bible Church regarding our attitude about giving. He recommended that believers read Acts 10:4 whenever they are “worn out” from giving because they think they're just helping the church to pay the utility bills.
In the Acts 10:4 passage, Cornelius is visited by an angel of God who tells him that “his prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.” Pastor Solomon encourages believers to see our prayers and gifts in the same light. That is, not to think that what we give – our time, our money, our efforts – is only for “paying the utility bills.” Instead, we should purpose in our hearts to let our service come up as a memorial offering before God.
Interestingly, when Dr. Lau returned home after the “shoe” conversation, the passage he read in his daily devotional was Joshua 1:3: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you…" Just as the sole is the bottom of the foot, the “sole” is the bottom part of the shoe. It is sometimes referred to as two different parts: insole and outsole.
The bible speaks about two different parts of man: our physical man and our inner man, “our souls” which will live forever. When we feel worn out at times from giving, we can be encouraged knowing that it is actually Jesus’ light that is “kept on” through the preaching of the Word at our local churches. The lights we are helping to keep on assure that the Light of the World is being shared with lost, sometimes “worn-out” souls.
In addition to light, the Bible speaks a lot about our feet as well, and most often it is metaphorically. In Habakkuk 3:19 it says: “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to tread on the heights." Sometimes we need to call on God’s strength when we are feeling worn out so that He can give us a “higher” perspective about our calling to support churches and ministries.
Dr. Lau acknowledges: “God's promises to us and to that father of my patient may be very different than His promise to Joshua, but we can be sure that our prayers and gifts can come up as a memorial offering directly before God.” We know that when we support the spreading of the gospel, in God’s eyes, it doesn’t matter about our shoes, because He says that we have beautiful feet! (Romans 10:15)
Life Application
What “heights” are you treading on presently for which you need to depend on God’s strength instead of trying to climb them by yourself?
What strategies and Christian disciplines can you put into place now, before you start to feel “worn out” from a heavy curriculum load and other “life” issues, to assure that your relationship with the Lord and to the body of Christ, remains energized?
Have you considered that even the small things you do for the Lord can be offered up as a memorial to Him?
