Sunday, April 6, 2025
“Go the Extra Mile for Another”
As we begin the fifth full week of Lent, our Challenges again focus on our relationship with God and each other. How do we respond to the needs of others? How do we respond to God’s needs for those around us? When we do good things for each other, we represent the hands and heart of God. When we turn away from helping each other, we might also be turning away from God.
That’s the point of today’s Lenten Challenges and the focus of this upcoming week: to focus on the needs of others. How can we bless others? Is there something we are already doing, but we know that we could do more? Where does someone need me? Where does God need me?
The answers to these questions are sometimes obvious, but not all the time. This is part of the thought process that we often call “discernment”, which is a fancy term used to describe how we consider God’s needs above our own. Trying to figure out what God may need might seem to be impossible, but really, it’s often quite easy. We simply need to be aware of our surroundings and attentive to those around us and those we encounter. God is often speaking, but unless we take some time to be in quiet peace, we may never hear or understand it.
Where do we feel God leading us to help others? It may not always be at a convenient time, but that’s the point: When someone is in need, their need is immediate. When people are hungry, promising food next week won’t help. They are hungry now! Today’s Challenge is to “Go the Extra Mile” for someone else. Let’s pay attention today and this week.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38, NIV)
