A Cup of Cold Water

Mt 10:40 “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

A friend of mine recently told me about Bill Gates who just left the helm of the Microsoft Corporation. As you know, Bill Gates has been listed as one of the richest men in the world with net worth being valued over $58 billion. Gates has set out to make sure that every child on the face of the planet has a complete set of vaccinations against disease.

That’s staggering to contemplate. Consider that there are somewhere around 4 billion children in the world. And still its amazing that of all the uses Bill Gates could think of for his immense wealth, the way he has chosen to spend it is on people who need it the most, making sure they have a chance at getting a good start at life.

Why would he do it? What could possibly be the reward? I’m sure a financial manager has somewhere made the argument that Mr. Gates money would be better spent earning a good rate of return on his $58 billion. I imagine that he’s even been courted by political candidates arguing that if he would help them get elected then that would be the greatest impact his money could have.

But it’s when we empty ourselves enough to give exactly what’s needed to the ones who are the least in our society – that’s when our hearts most resemble the heart of God.

You see, the heart of God is to show mercy to those who don’t deserve mercy and forgiveness to those who don’t even know they need to be forgiven of anything. The heart of God is to love the unlovable and to draw into community the ones no one believes is fit for relationship. The heart of God is to raise up leaders from among those who have been cast out and dismissed because – well, that’s just how God is. I suppose if he were to raise up spiritual leaders from among the rich and powerful there might be some confusion over who actually got the credit! And so God chose Moses – an infant cast off by his mother out of fear for her son’s safety. And God chose Samuel, who had been given to an elderly priest to raise and teach. And God chose a reckless harp-player turned bandit named David to become Israel’s greatest king. God has a heart for the underdog it would seem.

Do you? Who would you give the most simple of gifts to – a cup of cold water? Who is deserving of your selfless love? -- Jay