“He’s just going to use it to get drunk.” That’s what I told myself when I saw a homeless man last week. There I was making my way through downtown, in my moderately nice vehicle on my way to an enjoyable evening of spending time with friends, cooking out (well technically it was cooking in. The grill was broken and George Foreman was used as a substitute. And on a side note. George Foreman is a genius. The world of indoor grilling was totally transformed when he stepped on the scene.). Here I am, stopped at a red light and I see this man. A little dirty, hasn’t shaved in a while and he has a sign. ANY BIT WILL HELP. GOD BLESS. I tried not to make eye contact with him at first, fearing that if our eyes met I would immediately feel guilty. I was only about 20 feet away from him, but I refused to make contact. I just kept my eyes looking straight ahead, even though I could sense that his eyes were locked onto me. Then the thought came up, “Don’t pay him any attention. Just ignore him. If you give him any money he will just go get drunk.”
I’ve been in this situation many times before. This is not the first homeless man that my path has crossed. There have been some I have ignored. Some I gave money to. Some I have talked with. Some I have bought food for. But no matter what I have done, that first thought to just ignore has almost always happened. Maybe I’m just an unsympathetic sinner?
I don’t consider myself that materialistic. I mean, I have some nice things, but I try not to let those things consume me or define me. I think I would be able to adapt pretty well if I was in some place where my things were stripped away from me, say like living in a hut in a village in Africa. I wouldn’t miss my SUV or my cell phone. But here’s this guy, out on a Saturday evening begging for money. Maybe he’s a drunkard, maybe he’s not. Maybe he’s just down on his luck, maybe he hasn’t been given the same opportunities I have. The fact is I have more than him. I have more stuff and that’s why I was sitting in my car listening to my ipod and he was on the street corner. Sure I can talk myself into ignoring him; I can rationalize myself to not be concerned with this man. I can subscribe to the idea that because I have more things than this man, then I am more important than he is. I could go that route.
But that’s not apart of following Christ. This lifestyle that I am trying to pursue, being after God’s own heart, well it tells me that I can’t ignore. That I can believe the idea that my stuff defines my worth. That I can’t believe that I am better than someone else because of what I have. If I am following Christ, I can’t choose to ignore a homeless man or simply write him off as a drunk. Yes, I do have more things than him, but I do not have more so I can keep more to myself. I have more so I can give more. “We are blessed so we can be a blessing,” is something I heard a pastor say once.
I don’t want this view of social status to keep me from following Christ. I don’t want to believe that this man and I are on different levels because of the things we have or do not have. God made this guy just as he made me. I am not better than him. I am not better than him. (I just thought I needed to repeat myself.) And I don’t want to help the poor or the homeless to make myself feel better. I don’t want to help the poor or the homeless so that I will feel less guilty for having more stuff. I want to do it because that’s what God wants. He doesn’t want me to question their neediness or to turn a blind eye. He wants me to show the love that I have been shown. And since I am trying to take my relationship with Him seriously, I want to do more of what He wants me to do. I want to not ignore signs that read ANY BIT WILL HELP. GOD BLESS. Walk in love…
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
For Heaven's Sake?
I guess I think of myself as generally a smart person. I mean, not in a conceited way or anything. But in life, there are just some things I don’t understand. Women, for instance. I really don’t even know what to say about ya’ll except the more I try to understand you, the more I am left clueless. And the less I try to understand you, the more I am amazed. (Did that even make any sense?) Another more serious thing I don’t understand is tragedy. Virginia Tech. More eloquent people than I have already said a lot about the tragedy. I guess the first thoughts that went through my head were about the shooter. What led him to this? What was going on in his life? I don’t understand any of it. I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda the other weekend. It was such a great movie, but it made me really sad. I don’t understand how 700,000 people can be slaughtered while the rest of the world ignores the injustice.
When we hear of tragedies like these or go through our own, sometimes we say things like, “Oh I can’t wait until I get to Heaven.” There’s even an old hymn, “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.” I guess we say these things because we know that in Heaven there will be no more war or tears or starving children or mass suicide bombings. We believe that in Heaven, we will have life as it was intended to be before the Fall. And I agree with these ideas about Heaven. But sometimes these ideas about future glory impact our lives in a way that really goes against the things Jesus said. For instance, for many Christians it’s easy to not get involved in humanitarian efforts because they know one Day all will be made right. It’s easy to neglect the present world when you only have your eyes on the future one. When Christianity is just about getting to Heaven, we take away from the message of Jesus. Robb Bell says, “What happens is the Gospel becomes about another world and this world greatly suffers.” Don’t get me wrong, there is a future hope that we should be eagerly awaiting, but there is also a present world that needs our help too.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” is something Jesus declares in John chapter 10. I believe that this life that Jesus spoke of is something that happens now, and not in some distant future. My life with Christ starts when I accept His love for me, not when I get to Heaven. There are bumper stickers out there, you know the ones. “Incase of Rapture, this car will be unmanned.” This may just be me, but this sticker represents this anticipation to leave this world behind. I can’t wait to get out of here. To me, this kind of thinking is not that Christ-like. Think about it. While He was here, did He ever say, “Man, you people are so screwed up. I can’t wait until I get to go back home.” Of course not. What did He say He was here to do? In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” Jesus was here to teach, to heal, to love, to work, to help. So if Jesus is the ultimate example for my life, shouldn’t I be doing the things He did?
In the end, God restores the world to the way He meant it to be. So, that means it will never be fully restored until He does it. But since we are His children, since we are of His kingdom, shouldn’t we be trying to do a little restoring too? I am not judging anyone, but let’s face it, there are many of us out there who accepted Jesus just to avoid Hell. Now we’re just waiting around until God calls us home. That’s not the way He wants us to live, though. God wants us to get involved in this world and make a positive impact on this world for His Kingdom, and there is so much more to this than just getting ready for Heaven. It means bringing little pieces of Heaven here to Earth. It means actually loving your enemies and making peace a priority. It means getting involved in relationships so that no one ever feels alone. It means feeding the hungry, supplying for the poor, and telling enemies that war is not the answer. It means living our lives the way in which Jesus lived His. Walk in love…
When we hear of tragedies like these or go through our own, sometimes we say things like, “Oh I can’t wait until I get to Heaven.” There’s even an old hymn, “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.” I guess we say these things because we know that in Heaven there will be no more war or tears or starving children or mass suicide bombings. We believe that in Heaven, we will have life as it was intended to be before the Fall. And I agree with these ideas about Heaven. But sometimes these ideas about future glory impact our lives in a way that really goes against the things Jesus said. For instance, for many Christians it’s easy to not get involved in humanitarian efforts because they know one Day all will be made right. It’s easy to neglect the present world when you only have your eyes on the future one. When Christianity is just about getting to Heaven, we take away from the message of Jesus. Robb Bell says, “What happens is the Gospel becomes about another world and this world greatly suffers.” Don’t get me wrong, there is a future hope that we should be eagerly awaiting, but there is also a present world that needs our help too.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” is something Jesus declares in John chapter 10. I believe that this life that Jesus spoke of is something that happens now, and not in some distant future. My life with Christ starts when I accept His love for me, not when I get to Heaven. There are bumper stickers out there, you know the ones. “Incase of Rapture, this car will be unmanned.” This may just be me, but this sticker represents this anticipation to leave this world behind. I can’t wait to get out of here. To me, this kind of thinking is not that Christ-like. Think about it. While He was here, did He ever say, “Man, you people are so screwed up. I can’t wait until I get to go back home.” Of course not. What did He say He was here to do? In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” Jesus was here to teach, to heal, to love, to work, to help. So if Jesus is the ultimate example for my life, shouldn’t I be doing the things He did?
In the end, God restores the world to the way He meant it to be. So, that means it will never be fully restored until He does it. But since we are His children, since we are of His kingdom, shouldn’t we be trying to do a little restoring too? I am not judging anyone, but let’s face it, there are many of us out there who accepted Jesus just to avoid Hell. Now we’re just waiting around until God calls us home. That’s not the way He wants us to live, though. God wants us to get involved in this world and make a positive impact on this world for His Kingdom, and there is so much more to this than just getting ready for Heaven. It means bringing little pieces of Heaven here to Earth. It means actually loving your enemies and making peace a priority. It means getting involved in relationships so that no one ever feels alone. It means feeding the hungry, supplying for the poor, and telling enemies that war is not the answer. It means living our lives the way in which Jesus lived His. Walk in love…
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