Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Simple Tasks" for Saturday, 7 June 2014 - Read 1 Corinthians 4:8-13

Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Simple Tasks" for Saturday, 7 June 2014 - Read 1 Corinthians 4:8 You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you. 9 For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. 11 Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. 12 We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. 13 Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
We are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. . . . We have become like the rubbish of the world.(1 Corinthians 4:11-13 (NRSV))
Sometimes, I am amazed at how the simplest task is rewarded. One morning, I took used copies of The Upper Room and some religious pamphlets to a local mission. The devotional booklets were placed on a table to be available for the people who came to a chapel service before lunch. As I waited for the security gate to open, I glanced at the homeless women and men who waited with me and wondered if any of them would read the devotions in search of faith for their challenging circumstances. Would they share the booklets with others in our city who lived on the streets? Later that afternoon, I received a call from the chaplain. “All the materials you brought were gone in a matter of minutes. Thank you so much,” he exclaimed. God recycles our meager offerings into something new, often in ways and places we could never imagine.
The Author: Emily Tipton Williams (Texas, USA)
Thought for the Day: How can my recycling efforts be life-giving?
Prayer: Eternal God, thank you for opportunities to serve our neighbors. Help us to spread your love and your words to the people we meet this day. Amen.

Prayer focus: The homeless in our communities
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