"I knew the only time I would NEVER get picked up was when I was in a town where Christian church just let out. A Hindu temple, or just about anywhere else I could get picked up in a second."
This is the true story of a friend of mine and the million problems in that sentence break my heart. Why is it that a homeless man looking for a ride not only didn't find it but could absolutely guarantee that he wouldn't find it when he was surrounded by a group of people that proclaim the name of Jesus. How is it that even possible? He should have had people begging to help him and show him love and compassion, offering a ride should have been the bare minimum offered.
I'm not going to bash on the American church, I think we all know the double-mindedness that is going on there. I am going to talk about what we should look like and act like as followers of Jesus Christ. The answer is simple really; we should look like Jesus, after all he is alive within us! It would be really easy to blame "the church" and take little to no responsibility for things like this. Oh, and by "the church" I mean that building where a bunch of people that all claim to believe in the same things. It is all too easy to pass of the responsibility and say that the church should really do something about these terrible problems going on today. Guess what WE are the church! It is our personal responsibility to care for ALL of our Father's children (you know our brothers and sisters) and provide for them when they are in need.
Most of us know the passage of scripture Matthew 25:40 where God tells us that whatever we did for the very least of people we did for Him. We all here this verse and get that little pang of guilt and make a note to donate a few cans at the next food drive, put an extra couple bucks in the offering plate, or if you are really feeling guilty do something crazy like volunteer or something; now that's radical! Somehow this makes us feel better about ourselves, we feel accomplished, we pat ourselves on the back and check it off of our imaginary list of things Jesus wants me to do to be a "good Christian". Please don't misunderstand me these are all truly good things to do and I'm not saying we shouldn't participate in them, what I am saying is Jesus calls us to do more! We are called to give up everything if He asks for it, He doesn't want our guilt relief giving He wants us to give out of the love in our hearts. In Matthew 25:45 Jesus says that whatever you did NOT do for the least of people you also did NOT do for Him; this means we are not only accountable for what we do but what we don't do. In other words you can't give at the canned food drive and choose to ignore the homeless man and not be held accountable for both. This truth is a little harder to swallow, I don't believe any of us would walk by Jesus on the street and ignore Him, we would never deny Him if He was in need, yet we deny Him of things He asks for of us every day.
This all boils down to love, love for Jesus and love for His people (your neighbors, that's all people by the way). If we honestly love people like Jesus does then it would break our hearts to see a man with his life on his back looking for a ride and maybe a warm meal. We would not be able to drive on past those in need (especially right after a meeting of believers) and not even think a second time about them. What if we quit spending so much time creating a new program or donation fund, which are good too, and spend more time just loving people and striving to live like Christ. Maybe just maybe the whole church would change in all the ways it needs to.
People should know that when they enter that building we call a church and see the people we call Christians that they will be loved, accepted, and cared for no matter what! God didn't call us to determine who deserves our love (we sure don't deserve His in that system) or our care or what they are entitled to receive. He called us to love and give where there is need. We are called to give those who receive are called to be good stewards of what they have received, and we are held accountable respectively. We just need to quit making everything so complicated and get back to wholehearted-Christ-like love and start letting it overflow from us.
In Christ's Love,
Reed Eden
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