Basic Human Needs

There is something altogether satisfying about meeting the most basic of human needs. One of those needs happens to be eating.

I find it strangely satisfying to feed my family. I like to watch my children take bites of something I have made, knowing that I am filling their tummies and helping them to grow. I find it exciting to make something I know my husband loves and then watch as he enjoys it. It is satisfying to me to watch their hunger be satiated.

Saturday we had a man from Direct T.V. here installing new wires and doing who knows what. He ran into endless problems and ended up being here from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.! It was so cold that day and I felt terrible for him as he shivered out in the cold. I did make him a cup of hot coffee and he was quite pleased with that.

As the night wore on I knew I needed to feed my family. At the same time I knew this man, his name was Tony, had been toiling away and he too must have been hungry. We offered him a seat at our table but he was too busy to stop but did mention he might want something later.

By nine he was tired and exhausted and probably partially frozen. He sat down at our dinner table and enjoyed a heaping plate of lamb stew, carrots, mashed potatoes, fresh green salad, and three hot biscuits.

As Tony ate I couldn't help but feel satisfied knowing we as a family were meeting a very basic need of another human being. A need to eat. I also realized as he sat at our table he must have seen the verses hanging on our wall. He might have wondered why we bothered to serve him a hot meal and not just assume he could get something from a fast food chain.

When he left Chris handed him a couple tracts and he was on his way. I thought about the fact that perhaps this might be a new beginning for him. Maybe in wondering why a family he was doing a job for would feed him, and give him cups of hot coffee, and exhibit patience in a frustrating process; he might then wonder what was the difference? What did we as a family have that other families did not?

Not to say that none of his other costumers have never fed him. Maybe they have and maybe they haven't. All I know is that I couldn't stop thinking of Matthew 25:33-45. Jesus told them when he was hungry they had fed him and thirsty they had given Him a drink. And they asked, "When did we do this?" The basic thought I was thinking rest mostly with verse 40. "When you did it to the least of these...you were doing it to me."

I told Chris later that night my thoughts and we both came to same conclusion. In these verses rested the very truth that in meeting this man's basic needs for nourishment, if we did as unto the Lord, then it was just the same as if the Lord was seated at our table that night and enjoying a hot meal.

Imagine then the other side. If we had NOT offered this man a meal, if we had not offered him something to drink, if we had not met his very basic needs, in turn it would have been just as bad as if we had not met the needs of own Lord Jesus Christ. In God's eyes all people are special and precious and not one is above another. It also talks about entertaining angels unaware.

Though I am quite sure that Tony the Direct T.V. guy was not an angel, at least both Chris and I could go to bed that night knowing that in some small way we had met his needs and maybe with time and prayer he will come to know the reason why.