“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16………
When the Lord led me to give a little snack to a homeless man I know who turned out to be hurrying down the street with his dog as he carried a big bag of food he had just gotten from a local restaurant, the obvious thing to do would have been to not give him the snack and wait for another time. After all, he already had a sizable sack of food. But I’ve long since learned following Jesus isn’t about doing the obvious. It’s about obedience to Christ who is forever Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Savior of the world!
I wish you could have seen the look of surprise and delight on the man’s face when I rushed across the street to give him the little snack. Oh, how small that snack was compared with the big bag of food he already looked forward to eating. So why such delight on his face?
Friend, even as I myself continue to go through the emotional pain of decades of rejection from those who should have most loved me, I see all around this world hurt, depression, violence, tragedy, trauma, hatred, loss, grief, loneliness, separation, divorce, estrangement, and brokenness like perhaps never before. I know enough about the homeless man’s story to know that the 30 seconds it took for me to give him that snack was all the time necessary to give him a glimmer of hope, a flicker of light, a flash of joy that he is not as forgotten as he may think he is.
One day, I hope, one day, I pray, he will come to see the love he saw in me that night wasn’t mine at all. That it was the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may he, and people worldwide, not only see the love of Jesus in those of us who follow Him, but may they be drawn by His Spirit to turn from their sins, to believe in Him as Lord, to receive His love, grace, mercy, peace, hope, joy, forgiveness, and forever fellowship, and to follow Him day by day and forevermore, AMEN!
Spread the light and love and hope of Christ, my friend! I had already shared Christ with the man about a year ago when I was last in New York City. This time I didn’t need to say a word. But simply to show His love. For the glory of Christ, yes, AMEN!