pALMSup! Practicing Your Righteousness in Giving to the Poor
In Matthew 6 Jesus was teaching the disciples how to grow in godliness through practicing acts of righteousness. He mentions three acts: when you give to the poor ( 6:2), when you pray (6:5), and when you fast (6:16). As Christians, we often understand the importance of regular and consistent prayer but giving to the poor (the King James version calls it giving "alms") and fasting are also acts of righteousness that should be incorporated into our regular life. Last Sunday I spoke about the first, "when you give to the poor".
Here was a little acrostic to help you remember important principles to consider when practicing the righteous act of alms giving, or giving to the poor:
Prepared BE INTENTIONAL
Always to BE CONSISTENT
Always to BE CONSISTENT
Lavish BE GENEROUS
Money YOUR TIME, TALENT, & TREASURE
Secretly to the BE HUMBLE
Underprivileged and BE AVAILABLE
Poor BE OBEDIENT
If you are not already intentional in your alms giving, and could use some guidance and suggestions to create a lifestyle of giving to the underprivileged and poor I suggest an excellent place to begin is to partner with Austin Disaster Relief Network (ADRN). Here is a link to their website https://adrn.org/
Their vision is simple yet inspiring:
ADRN’s primary goal is to serve Christ by sponsoring families affected by disaster through their Disaster Relief Shepherd program. Responding to offer relief following crisis, ADRN provides survivors with immediate financial assistance, emergency housing and transportation, emotional and spiritual care and connects families with vital resources to help rebuild their lives and their homes.
I had the opportunity to partner with ADRN last September after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the coastline of Texas from Corpus Christi to Houston. They are an amazing Christian, non-profit organization and I personally have known some of the leadership for over 20 years.
The first step to partnering is you must sign up and go through a free 3-hour orientation meeting that they hold regularly throughout the year in various places, usually churches, in the greater Austin area. Here is the link https://adrn.org/training/training-opportunities/
For those who are reading this today, January 29, there is an orientation meeting tomorrow night, Tuesday, at Tree of Life Church in Pflugerville from 6:30-9:30 pm. You must go to their website and sign up for this free orientation training. It's very informative and you will also learn of many other ways through ADRN to make a habit of "practicing your alms giving".
If you go to the training, either tomorrow or a time in the near future, let me know!
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