Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 20 verses 45 through 47:
45 In the hearing of all the people he said to the* disciples, 46‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets. 47They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’
When I was in seminary I served as a chaplain to a neighborhood ministry where I both lived and worked. I made friends in the neighborhood, and was appalled by the living conditions some of them had to endure.
One couple's rental house was especially appalling. There were exposed wiring behind the wallpaper, gaping holes in the kitchen floor linoleum, and broken commodes, ceiling fans, etc. And the exterior wasn't any better. The place was shocking really.
Not getting very far with the rental agency on repairs, I went to down to the City to find out who actually owned the home. These were the days before the internet is what it is now, and so I had to go downtown to find out.
Much to my shock, after looking up the property I discovered its owner was one of the most wealthy and prominent members and deacons in my own church.
It is hard to overestimate just how much that discovery has shaped my understanding of housing, economics, citizenship, church, and who and what a good deacon really is.
Remember friends, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And do it in business, even as you would do it in church.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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