20 September 2007 Devotion for Today “A Cup of Cold Water” Matthew 10:42
Some years ago at a Resort Area along the East Coast, a small community was having an open town meeting about some financial problems that they were facing.
Among the two dozen or so people was one man no one seemed to know who was apparently visiting in that area and had just dropped in on the meeting. He started to make a comment once as various projects were considered, but he was interrupted; so for the rest of the time, he kept still, and he left early. Just as he went out someone arriving late came in, and said breathlessly, “What was he doing here? Is he going to help us?”
The rest of them said, “Who are you talking about? Who was that man?” The person who had just arrived said, “You mean you don’t know? That was John D. Rockefeller, Jr!.
His yacht is in our harbor. Didn’t you get his help?” In despair someone said, “No, we didn’t get his help; we didn’t know who he was!”
Have you ever kicked yourself in the Seat of the Pants, because you missed a golden opportunity? I think all of us can relate here! Think of the opportunities that we have missed out on, because we were too busy thinking about our problems or preoccupied with ourselves, that we missed the solution that God would have given if we had only kept our eyes open!
1. We missed an opportunity to make a Positive Difference in Someone’s Life.
2. We missed an opportunity to be a Blessing to Someone who was Hurting.
3. We missed an opportunity to Witness to a Lost Friend.
4. We missed an opportunity to get a certain job because we weren’t prepared.
5. We missed an opportunity to Minister to our Spouse or Children because we were too preoccupied.
6. We missed an opportunity to make an Eternal Difference in a person’s life because we didn’t seize the opportunity.
Has an opportunity ever knocked on your door and you were so caught up in other things that it slipped through your fingers?
I’m convinced that it has happened to all of us! But I pray that we would wake up to the opportunities around us!
Jesus says in Matthew 10: 42 “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”
Think about the implications of this statement. A little one- Jesus is thinking here about children, or it could be an insignificant one, someone little regarded by society in general. They could be the people who are a nuisance to have around, the “not-like-us” people that we see, those for whom we don’t go out of our way. Every neighborhood, every town, every church has such people. “A cup of cold water” is that which provides refreshment for the most basic need-thirst. There is cold water versus tap water- tap water doesn’t take too much trouble to draw for someone. But cold water means going to the refrigerator (and in Jesus’ case, going to the cold spring), taking out a jug of water and filling it in a glass, and getting a few ice cubes to go in it, and then presenting that cold glass of water to that thirsty person in need.
“He shall by no means lose his reward”- that statement Jesus refers back to the lowly individual who was given the cup of cold water. Some would consider this either as time wasted, or time “written off”. Nothing could be expected from this encounter except for the warm feeling that one helped someone else in need. The little people and the acts done for them might be discounted and overlooked by others, but acts like these never go unnoticed by the Lord. One never knows the opportunities such a simple act of refreshment will bring about, especially when it is done in the name of the Lord.
When you go out of your way to refresh the “little ones”, you go out of your way to refresh the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Have a blessed day!
Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com
jcrussell@liberty.edu
Church website: http://25621.lifewaylink.com
Devotion Archives: http://www.msnusers.com/DevotionforToday
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