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Dennis Meek responded to an Opinion Journal article about a group giving out Bibles, and I thought it important to quote it here:
I have spent a lot of time in the past week volunteering at a shelter hosting about 3,000 refugees from south Mississippi and Louisiana. (I guess I’m being insensitive using the term “refugee” but to me it means someone that has fled from danger.)
On Saturday morning, a group of people arrived at the shelter with boxes under their arms. These folks were dressed up in their “Sunday go-to-meeting” clothes and walked through the shelter handing out New Testaments. I was helping a lady from Gulfport locate some toiletries when a lady came up to her. She handed her a New Testament, patted her on her shoulder and said, “I’ll be praying for you. God bless you.” All these folks congregated outside in a huddle after spending maybe 10 minutes in the shelter.
I was really tempted to go out and join their huddle, and I now I wish I had. I am a Christian too, and I’m not passing judgment on these folks. They meant well. I wanted to tell them to not wait on God to bless these folks but instead to be God’s hands, feet and voice and look for ways to be a blessing. Over the next hour or so, I had several refugees make comments to the effect of “Why didn’t those church folks stick around and help out?”
Don’t get me wrong, everybody needs God’s word. The way it is distributed is vitally important, though.
I have seen so much love and generosity shown over the past week. The amount of items (food, clothing, bedding, money, etc.) that have come to Jackson from all over the country is amazing. I guess my point is that we Christians need to be extra gentle, sensitive and especially alert for where our fellow man is. There is such a need right now for the good news we Christians have to offer. We all need to be salt and light for the world around us.
It’s interesting that Jesus, while here, talked about “giving a cold cup of water in my name” and visiting the sick and those in prison. The point this person is trying to get across is a good one. We need to be more than people that just hand out scripture and expect conversions. I’m glad we’re doing that, don’t get me wrong, but we need to get involved and do the work. Take Jesus’ example– He not only preached about the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand, he healed the sick and spoke words of comfort to those in need.
