What do I have to offer?

What do I have to offer?

By Clayton Adams If possible, listen to the Christmas song Little Drummer Boy as sung by Bob Seger before you read the rest of this. Listening to the song while reading or right after you read this article may prove to be enjoyable. Log onto YouTube.com and search for Bob Seger – The Little Drummer Boy (1989) version complete with the original animation.

“Come they told me, a new born king to see, our finest gifts we bring, to set before the king, so to honor him, when we come. Little baby, I am a poor boy too, I have no gift to bring that's fit to give a king. Shall I play for you, then He nodded, the ox and lamb kept time, I played my drum for him, I played my best for him, then He smiled at me, me and my drum, me and my drum, me and my drum.” This is the song, Little Drummer Boy.

I've always liked this song because it speaks to my heart about using the very personal gifts God has selected for me to use to bring Him glory. God gave the best gift He could give in His Only Begotten Son. His Son, Jesus, gave us the very best gift He could give us – forgiveness of sin, our salvation. The very best gifts we can give God is ourselves, forgiven by God's Son. I give myself to God, through His Son, Jesus but what do I have to offer others?

Serving at the former Crittenden Regional Hospital emergency department was one of the highest honors I have had in my life. I learned much from the doctors, nurses, paramedics and many other health care providers. I learned much more from the patients. There were patients in need of true emergency medical attention, others, needed simple human compassion.

Entering the room to check on her, I immediately saw she was in trouble. Her adult daughter was standing against the wall, possessing a look of total helplessness and unbelief as to what just transpired. The elderly mother was standing, unclothe, and needing help to clean herself of the results of her sickness that covered the bed, floor and herself.

I don't remember their names. I do remember the daughter was emotionally overwhelmed, angry and embarrassed. The daughter offered to help her mom, but her mom refused the help to the bedside commode – pride, often gets in the way of good decisions. The mother decided she was able to move herself but she wasn't quick enough. Because she didn't make it to the commode, there was a very unpleasant mess.

It was busy that night so I knew I was going to do the cleaning and that was one of my responsibilities to fulfill. It took a brief moment to assure the patient that I could help her. Her embarrassment and shame was understandable. I helped her onto the commode, cleaned and put a fresh gown on her, cleaned her bed, then the floor and commode.

What this woman needed was human compassion. I couldn't help her like a nurse or doctor, but at that very moment in time what she needed was what I had. I learned the lesson again. What do you have to offer? Only that what God has given us to share.

I believe God provided the opportunity for me to give the one thing that would mean the most to the patient and her daughter at that moment – compassion. I believe God has given you a particular desire, ability, a gifting of some type to use to help someone else who needs exactly what you have.

The next time you ask yourself What Do I Have To Offer? Take an inventory of the opportunities on hand. Friendship, just listening to someone (with no judgments), mowing a yard, changing light bulbs, raking leaves, making a meal, baby-sitting for free, visiting a friend's relative in the hospital, giving a gas card just to bless someone. These and other ideas may not mean much to some but to the receiver it means everything.

Like the little drummer boy, you may be “poor and have no gift to bring fit for a king” but the King of Kings has given you something to offer and benefit others.

The next time you ask yourself What Do I Have To Offer? Think carefully, and give what you have been given by God to share. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 10:42 'And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.'

Clayton Adams is pastor at Earle First Assembly of God. You can e- mail him at cpalaa@ yahoo. com, or find Earle First Assembly on Facebook.

‘AWord from the Pastor’