Monday Musings: For I Was Hungry

A plate can represent a family's personality. It can match with a certain decor or taste. But a plate, in its simplest context, suggests food--a filling of the plate. An empty plate could be a symbol of hunger or lack.

In God's Word, He promises to care for His children. In Matthew 6:26 (TEB), we are admonished, "Look at the birds flying around: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest, and put it in barns; your Father in heaven takes care of them!"" In verses 31-34, we are told to "stop worrying" about these basic needs: "Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with his Kingdom and with what he requires, and he will provide you with all these other things (RSV)." 

Why then, one might ask, do some go hungry? I think the key lies in the second part--"be concerned about everything else with his Kingdom..." We sometimes forget that we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Saint Teresa of Avila put it into perspective this way:

"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now." 

          Often we forget that we are Christ's body extended to a hurting world. Hunger means something far different in many countries--and even to many in our own. To say we are "hungry," to most of us means we are uncomfortable--maybe even starting to feel lightheaded or nauseous in some cases. But to those who live in hunger, it is a deep ache fraught with fear--the unquenchable fear that it may never go away--until that fear is replaced with numbness and a distant recollection of being somehow alive. It is a horrible and harsh reality most of us are fortunate enough to never have to face. Yet it's real, and our brothers and sisters are suffering. 

          My daughter went to Haiti, and she saw starving children firsthand. She will never think of food in quite the same way. Never take fresh water for granted. May we all have this kind of a revelation and seek to be the ones who will meet the need. One person cannot feed everyone, but as we give to God our "loaves and fishes," He can multiply it.  

My husband heads up a food bank through Marion-Polk Food Share, whose homepage slogan is "Imagine...no hunger." Can we truly imagine it? And can we do without to help someone else? I was blessed to hear the story of a family who came to the food bank and willingly gave up food they were going to receive because another family needed it. I believe it's what Jesus would do. And it blesses His heart when we act in such a way.

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,..." (Matthew 25:35a, NIV). Whatever we do unto those society may consider the very least--in status, in appearance, in significance--we do to Jesus, for He identifies with each and every one; He loves each and every one. He is looking for those who will answer the call, "For I was hungry..." 

We are your hands.

We are your feet.

It is more than just a duty.

Give us faith to find your lost treasures

And to see their hidden beauty.

We are your hands.

We are your feet.

And though we may be few,

Let us carry your loving-kindness, Lord

That they may give their lives to you.

Let us see the ones we pass each day

And barely give a glance.

And love the ones whose souls will live

If we will take the chance.

And to those who’ve traveled far

Just to get a quenching drink

Let us be a fountain, Lord.

Oh, change the way we think!

  

When you next see a plate, think of what you could not put on that plate in order to help feed someone else. Ask what the Lord would have you do. We can't ignore hunger--it's all around us--let us not be some of those to whom the Lord says "Depart" because (vs. 42) "...I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,..."

The word "for" means "Because, as, since, inasmuch as agree in implying a reason for an occurrence or action" (Dictionary.com). Action is necessitated and imperative. "For" equals a need that cannot be ignored. Let's make sure we are not turning away, for those same starved ones may be in spiritual hunger as well. 

            Consider for a moment the eternal ramifications and import of this one little phrase. For I was hungry.