Spiritual Beggars

Church: Bible studies: small groups: outreach ministries: prayer. Good activities, right? Sure, but are we so focused on these activities that we miss God’s prompting along the way?

Take Peter for example; in Acts chapter 3, Peter and Paul are heading to the temple in the afternoon, most likely to pray. A good activity but on the way they encountered a beggar. How would we have reacted? Hastily brush past them? Ignore them? Throw them some spare change and chalk it up to a good deed, a godly deed even? After all we are on our way to speak with God, to pray, what could be more important? We are doing something religious, something God wants us to do. We can’t waste time with a beggar, right? Peter did. On the way to do something religious, Peter was prompted by God - Interrupted by God. He could have easily missed this prompting but he didn’t. Peter allowed his activity to be interrupted and God used Peter to heal the beggar. No, he didn’t give the beggar what he was begging for; Peter said he didn’t have any money. That could have been the end of it, no money means we can’t help, right? Peter didn’t have money but he did have Christ and that is what he gave the beggar. In the name of Jesus the Christ, Peter healed the man born crippled and through that healing the beggar jumped, danced and shouted praises to God. As a result many came to believe in Jesus Christ and we have learned a valuable lesson.

What lesson can we learn from this event? How about don’t be too busy for God even in our religious activities. Or perhaps it is realizing that we often pass spiritual beggars on our way to do something religious and we do nothing. How many people walked by that beggar every day on their way to pray and never offered help. Sure, there were probably people who dropped some spare change in the jar but they missed the real need; the need for a savior. That brings up another lesson; in our haste we often give spiritual beggars a band-aid when they need surgery. We do not want to get too involved with beggars or their lives, it is too dirty there and we may get dirty, banged up or even hurt if we get too involved. Throwing scripture references to someone who needs to be shown love, pointing someone to a sermon when they need a friend or showing forgiveness to someone that has hurt us. It is much easier to drop some change and move on. What if Peter had that attitude, would all those people have come to know Jesus if Peter didn’t allow himself to be interrupted? I’m not sure, I believe God would still have reached those that accepted him but Peter would have missed out and not been a part of that event.

But that was Peter, he walked alongside Jesus. I couldn’t do those things. That is for the professionals to do not me. I don’t have schooling in the Bible, I hold no degree and I am not paid to do it. Acts 4:8a “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit”. See that? It doesn’t say then Peter who graduated seminary. Not Peter who was well educated. No, it says “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit”. On our own we cannot do these things but through the filling of the Holy Spirit in us we can. Do we want to? Or do we want to drop in our loose change and be on our way?