“I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this,
that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ ”
(Acts 20:35).
In today’s verse, Paul quotes a statement from Jesus that does not appear in any of the four Gospels. Giving is in the very essence of God. John 3:16 (which is parhaps the best known text of Scripture) says that God loves us in such a way that He gave us His Son.
Giving is an act that originates in God. That is why we have to imitate Him. The recipient is blessed; the one who gives is even more so. Whoever gives frees himself from selfishness and receives God’s blessings. Giving and giving of oneself is increasingly indispensable in the world in which we live.
“When I look at the unplowed field, I ask myself,”
Where are the hands of God?
“When I observe injustice, corruption, the one who exploits the weak; when I see the arrogant pedantic enrich themselves at the cost of the ignorant and the poor, I wonder,”
Where are the hands of God?
“When I look at the forgotten elderly lady, I wonder,”
Where are the hands of God?
“When I see the dying man in agony, full of pain, I wonder,”
Where are the hands of God?
“When I look at that once strong and determined young man, now stupefied by drugs and alcohol; when I see hesitancy where there was once brilliant intelligence; when I see him now in rags, with no direction or destination; I ask myself,”
Where are the hands of God?
“When that kid offers me his box of unsold candy at thee o’clock in the morning; when I see him sleeping in the street and shivering, with a few newspapers covering his fragile body; when his gaze calls out to me; when I see him wandering the streets without hope and only the company of a stray dog; I wonder,”
Where are the hands of God?
“And I face Him and ask Him,”
‘Where are Your hands, Lord… to fight for justice, to give a caress, to bring comfort to the abandoned, to rescue the youth from drugs, to give love and tenderness to the forgotten?
“After a long silence, I hear His voice:
‘Don’t you realize that you are My hands? Dare to use them for what they were made!’ “
We are the hands of God in this world.
Serve with love, because “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
God bless you!