Clueless / Blind or Both?

During a recent day of volunteering at my local food bank, it dawned on me that most of the cars zooming up and down the road out front carried folks in them that didn't have a clue. They know hardly anyone in town, don't work in town, don't shop in town or even buy their gas in town. They drive by the building and couldn't come close to making a guess about what takes place inside...

Our small town is about five or six blocks long and the same width. It is in a rural part of the county and there are approximately 1700 people living in the town and surrounding area.

The building is old (about eighty years) and was once a school house. Now it houses several services that benefit local citizens. It contains the a branch library, a thrift store and the food bank. There is quite the group of hard working brothers and sisters that come together twice a week and help supply the unfortunate. The entire operation is staffed by volunteers. 

We must care for those less fortunate than ourselves. Proverbs 21:13 says: 

"Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor
Will also cry himself and not be heard"    

When I started working at the food bank, I was shocked. I too didn't have a clue that there were so many disadvantaged in our small town. As with those passersby, I was too busy to see the need. Every day that the food bank is open, we serve about sixty to seventy five persons. If we counted family members, that number would be much higher (the average family size is three to five persons). As the Apostle John said in 1 John 3:17-19:

"But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him."

As you go through life, take the time to look around your town and find the opportunities to help those who are in greater need than yourself. Root them out and offer a smile, a kind hand, warm clothing or a meal. Remember, as Acts 20:35 says:

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Are you clueless or just blind?