“Alms…alms for the poor…”
Peter and John went to the temple to pray when they heard a man begging for their charity…
(NASB) Acts 3:2 “And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.
3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.”
This is the means by which the man made a living, providing money for food and the necessities of life. His lameness was such that he needed to be carried.
He was industrious at the point of exerting himself to provide food for his own needs. Have you met people who put forth ingenuity and industriousness to make their living in a unique way? (Those who do as much as they are able but must rely on others to some degree.)
I met a man who has a motorized wheelchair and uses it with an attitude of gratitude to further a cause, and much like the man in Scripture, he asks for gifts of charity.
~ Take it to heart ~
“Alms…alms for the poor…” how will you respond to an honest plea the next time?