Lending Your Talent

This week our focus is on Jesus’ key command to love our neighbors.  In a song called ‘Who is My Neighbor?’ the lyrics say,

He was the one with compassion, the one in God’s favor.

Not by creed

But by responding to need,

He proved to be the good neighbor.

In Acts 9:36 we have an example of what it looks like to be a good neighbor.  The writer says,

“In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor.” 

We don’t know that much about Tabitha, but we do know that she loved well.  She used her skills and resources to care for the most marginalized in the community.  She made clothes for a number of widows who were entirely without income or support.  In her untimely death (albeit temporary since Peter will raise her from the dead), those she cared for gathered at her home to pay tribute to her for the impact she had on their lives.  Through needle and thread, she showed these women God’s love and provision for them.    

Tabitha certainly had no idea that her good works would be memorialized in Scripture.  She simply responded to the need around her by using her talent to help.  In doing so she preached the good news of Christ, not in words but through compassionate action.  Brené Brown writes,

“Most of us who are searching for spiritual connection spend too much time looking up at the sky and wondering why God lives so far away.  God lives within us, not above us.  Sharing our gifts and talents with the world is the most powerful source of connection with God.”

As those words soak in, I invite you to pray this simple prayer –

God, please help me to see the needs of those in my path and how I can help.  Then give me courage to act.

-Mitzi Myers