Friday's Devotion

So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.
(1 Corinthians 14.12 NRSV)

Robert Fulghum, in his book UH-OH, tells of a scene he watched while eating breakfast in a cafe in Northwest Thailand. He tells of the dusty yellow light of an early summer morning. In the shade of graceful old trees in the forecourt of an ill-kept temple, three small girls are offering little clay amulets tied to small bamboo cages containing tiny birds to those who come to pray. The birds are not actually for sale in the sense that you can take them home with you. When you give the little girls a few coins, you are entitled to set one of the birds free and thereby add to your achievement of merit. You keep the amulet as evidence of your act--a kind of ecclesiastical receipt for a righteous act.
After breakfast, he visited the temple with a native friend he had made. They walked around to the back. On a wooden table was the rest of the story--a pan of water, and several uninhabited bamboo cages with bread crumbs just inside the open doors. When the sparrows are freed out front by the worshipers, they fly around the temple to the table, take a drink of water, hop into a cage to eat the crumbs, and another little girl gently closes the cage and places it in a larger basket to be carried around front.
The native explained that this was not an "official business of the temple." The little girls provide food and water for the birds, the birds provide an opportunity for a religious gesture to those who come to pray and they, in turn, provide a small income for the little girls. "It is no secret how the matter works," Fulghum writes, "and no hypocrisy is involved--everyone has a part in an enterprise to which everyone gives and from which everyone is given."
It is an interesting story. It is the kind of story Jesus might tell. Not to praise the deceit involved, but as an example to his followers that we are to think about the resources and the opportunities we have. God has given us much. Will we use our gifts to share God’s love.
Lord Jesus, help me to use the resources and opportunities you have blessed me with to build your kingdom. Amen.
Ron Newhouse

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