Do More Ministry: Guest Post: The Silent Middle

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August 20, 2009

Guest Post: The Silent Middle - Feeding Jesus

The issue of hunger is never a comfortable, or even sometimes familiar, subject. I remember as a kid when I had food left on my plate after dinner, my mom would say, "You have to eat that. There are starving kids in China."

Whether or not the last few bites of my broccoli made it into my stomach or the trash can, I wasn't sure how that would help the starving Chinese kids. And they were halfway around the world, far from my snug little home where we never missed a meal. I didn't care about hungry children in a far distant land. I just didn't want to eat my vegetables.

These days you don't have to go to China to find hungry people. In America today, one out of eight people are what they call "food insecure," meaning they don't have enough food for a nutritious meal. If you are like me when I read that statistic, I immediately thought, " Well, I rarely have a 'nutritious' meal. I mean, how nutritious can fries and chicken nuggets or Totinos pizzas be?" But the fact is that I have enough resources that if I wanted a healthy meal, I could buy one. Many of the one in eight mentioned above have no access to food, period, much less nutritious.

I know that seems hard to believe considering we live in America, where it seems we have an abundance of everything. But in many places around our country, hunger is a big issue, especially now. The current economic crisis has changed the face of hunger. The number of Americans who can't afford food increased by 30 percent last year. It's no longer starving children in China; it's starving children and adults in your neighborhood or in your children's classrooms.

And while eating all of our broccoli might not help the hungry around us, there are many practical things we can do. Last week I mentioned the child who left a food bank excited that he got to eat that day. When I went to the grocery store Saturday with my coupons in hand, the child's question, "Mommy, do we get to eat today" was ringing in my head. As I found deals on food for my household, I found other deals on food that I could take to our church for a local food bank. My favorite find was a box of 39-cent mac and cheese. While it seems like anybody on earth could afford a 39-cent box of mac and cheese, I realized that a single mom who had to pay the electric bill and buy milk might not have 39 cents left over for dinner. That small amount to me may be a huge deal to a hungry child.

If you are human, it just seems right that as your plate is full, why not give the abundance to those whose plates are empty. Even the government and local prisoners are helping the cause.

But even more than that, as Christians we are following in obedience, serving God and spreading the Kingdom as we help the hungry. In Matthew 25, commending the believers who fed the hungry, Jesus tells them, "Whatever you have done for the least of these, you did for me." The "least of these" aren't just in China. What will you do today to help "the least of these" in your own city?

Jenny Wingard is passionate about God, local church ministry, and giving. She can be reached via Twitter or e-mail.

Posted by bstroup at August 20, 2009 9:26 AM

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Do More Ministry

August 20, 2009

Guest Post: The Silent Middle - Feeding Jesus

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