“And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42).

This verse is part of the close of the first major section of the book of Matthew. Herein the Lord Jesus is revealed in His royalty and majesty. HE is the King! Those who belong to Him must demonstrate their new life by the way they serve others. Even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple would bring about a special blessing and reward. Several customers ahead in the grocery check-out line suddenly looked up to see what was unfolding. A very young humiliated mommy told the clerk, “I’m so sorry. I must have added wrong. I do apologize. I don’t have enough money to pay for everything.  Please help me to know what I have to return.” The clerk looked out at the milk, bread, diapers, and the few absolutely necessary food items and said, “Honey, I don’t know what you can give up. But you are $7.47 short.”  A rather gruff man standing behind her shouted, “Hurry up, lady. You’re holding us all up.” Before the young mommy could say another word, the lady just behind the gruff character pushed her way past him, holding a ten dollar bill in her hand. “Put nothing back, young lady. I’ve got you covered. There was a time in my life that I was in your shoes and someone helped me. Just take it and keep the little bit of change.” With that she returned to her place in line and said to the man ahead of her, “And as you for you, I would expect that you could have been a little kinder.”

For today: How will we be able to encourage someone else today?