Beggars CAN Be Choosers (Or a Preview of This Sunday's Message)

Beggars can be choosers?  That doesn't much sound like the ol' familiar expression that most of us have heard.  I was always taught that beggars shouldn't be choosy - that they should be thankful for what is given to them, because it was given out of a good heart.  Hmmm.  Hold the phone a minute. 

If someone comes to me with a need, and I take the beggars-can't-be-choosers attitude, in essence I am making them meet me where I am.  I am not meeting them where they are.  It would be as if someone who is hungry asks me for food, and I give them peanut butter sandwiches over and over and over and over.  Not that there's anything wrong with peanut butter sandwiches, but what if that person really wants a steak, or a grilled cheese, or a bowl of chili?  My serving them what I want to serve them sends the message that they are not important enough for me to consider their needs.  It places me above others.  They are an interruption in my routine.  They are an inconvenience while I am serving 'from my heart.'  The beggars-can't-be-choosers attitude happens when I forget what it's like to be an outsider and a beggar in need of compassion. 

And on a side note...what's up with this 'they' thing?  Me/they, us/them: that separates us.  It places the giver above the receiver in some hierarchy of humanity.  It's as if I am never in need.  Really? 

Reality time: I am an outsider and a beggar in need of compassion.  I come to God with my needs, and what does God offer me?  Choices.  God meets me where I am.  God never makes me come up to God's level.  And it's a good thing, because I could never get there.  As Eugene Peterson writes, The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.  We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.  God comes to us and spends time where we are.  How cool is that?  And borrowing from Donald Miller, when I accept that there is nothing I can do to earn God’s grace – there’s no amount of righteous living; and there’s nothing I can give to God - I’m given a kingdom in return.  I get all of God; God doesn't hold back. 

So the next time I go to God in need, I'll remember that I can have a peanut butter sandwich if I ask for one.  But God will wait until I ask, and God will respect where I am and what I need.  May I be so accepting of others that I meet them where they are, because God does.