JANUARY 6 "WHY BOTHER HELPING OTHERS?"

I couldn't help but think as Abram victoriously rescues his nephew Lot, that Lot only goes back to the slime. How often have we risked our lives, "so to speak" to rescue family members/and or friends only to see them go back. So what do we do? Keep doing right! Was recently talking to a man who took in a 13 year old for a couple of years and was nothing short of a father to him. Now that teen has gone off to be with some other family members and does not even call. This man was telling me how much it hurts. We can have one experience like or like Lot, where we risk our lives for nothing; and then make a decisions not to help anymore, not to give of ourselves. But as I told him, I will tell you, "we don't necessarily do it for them or the the accolades we will get, we do it because it was the right thing to do at the time. It's who we are that matters, not who they are. You can also be sure that no matter what the other person does with our help, God honors our labors and sacrifices, regardless of the ungrateful recipient. You'll notice that this is the beginning of Abram's great blessing.  It is right after this that Abram meets King Melchizedek and he is blessed by Him. If we do what we do for people then we will quickly throw in the towel, because you will learn that people often don't appreciate, people often are ungrateful, people often take others for granted. So many people I have helped that have never as so much has given a Thank-you.  There are others that I have helped that not only didn't give a "thank-you" but trashed talked me to others.  Who knows if when Lot got back to Sodom & Gomorrah he began to ridicule his uncle Abram for even rescuing him. "Old Uncle Abram, always trying to be the hero, I could have got out of the mess myself, he just wants to be the hero, he just wants to be able to say, "I told you so". We know Lot goes right back, that we do know! Why do right? Because it's about us, not them. It's who we are, it's who God wants us to be and at the end of the day, the only person we really need to be concerned about, is God. And if you will do right, you can trust that the God we serve is a God of recompense.