Tossing Gifts
"Why are they throwing away the food we just gave them?"
I can only shake my head. My daughter and I watched as children, men and women filed through the lunch line on a Saturday afternoon at the soup kitchen. We put pizza, salad, fish, bread, potato chips and cookies on the trays and set them up for the people who came to the kitchen for free meals. Many who came for food were children. Many didn’t look undernourished or impoverished. Several played with handheld electronic game systems while the food sat on their plates, untouched. When their parents got up to leave, the uneaten food went into the trash.
Several hungry eyes followed those still-laden trays as they went to the trash bins, but the kitchen rules were clear – one tray per person and no sharing. There were people there who looked like they needed a good meal. They were the ones who stuffed the fish patty and the potato chips between the bread and carefully wrapped the ‘sandwich’ and the cookies in several napkins. The small bundle went into a coat pocket. The kitchen manager tries to explain their actions. "We’re closed on Sundays, so they take what they can now and they’re usually the first in line on Monday mornings."
But the food in the trash bothered me. Why would people come in for a free meal, just to throw it away? And how could the parents let their children accept a full plate that they knew wasn’t going to be eaten?
"People do that all the time… not just with food." The voice in my mind startled me, but then I realized the truth in the words.
God holds out the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, his only Son. All we have to do is accept the gift and trust Jesus for eternal life. God pours his grace and rich mercy over our sin by Jesus’ death on the cross. But how many people take that gift, that precious life, and throw it in the garbage? How many times have I squandered his gift and left it, unappreciated and unused?
More times than I care to admit.
But God is good. He still holds hope in his hands and offers life in Christ. He offers it freely, every day, no matter what my past, no matter how great my transgression. "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV)
I only have to reach out and take it.
"Thank you, Jesus. Forgive my wasteful ways and help me appreciate you. Help me tell others about you and the free gift of eternal life in you. Amen."
What will you do with His gift?
Don't waste it. Use it for His glory!