Christian Living

---

Will Work For Food

It seems that anywhere you go today, you will see the homeless in some form! Either they will be waiting at the stoplight with a “Will Work For Food” sign, or walking through a parking lot with a bucket and a bottle of window cleaner. It seems that we have homeless people, young and old in every corner of the world.

According to some reports we have 3.5 million people are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. Webster’s dictionary defines homeless as: Having no home or haven.


How often have you pulled up to a stoplight and watched a man or woman holding a sign and thought, “if you put as much energy into getting a job as you do holding the sign, you wouldn’t have to stand on the corner?” How many times have you looked at a homeless person and judged them by how they look? How often have you felt disdain when someone ask you for spare change?

You don’t have to email me with your answers; God knows your heart. And He knows mine and I believe that is why He has allowed me to see that it is time we put down our judgmental attitudes towards the homeless, and ask God what we are to do. It became very clear to me this week, that I have stereotyped those men and women standing out holding a sign, or wandering the streets begging for spare change. And in doing so, I have offered them nothing. I haven’t as much stopped and shared the love of Jesus!

I know your first thought is, well we can’t save them all, but let me ask you, did Jesus tell us to save them all? He said for us to spread His love! That doesn’t necessarily mean that you empty your pocket book, unless of course that is what God tells you to do, but what about praying for that person standing there with sign in hand? What about sticking your head out the window and telling them that Jesus loves them?

The bottom line is this. If we are not careful, we become calloused to the homeless! We see them so often that we automatically judge that they are drug addicts and lazy. We automatically put them in a category of worthless losers. I have been guilty of thinking these thoughts, so I speak truth according to what I, myself have done.

But let me ask you this. Who made you or I judges of people we see standing on a corner? Just because they do not fit into our proverbial box of how people are suppose to behave or look, are we really any better than the sinner if we look at one of God’s creatures with disdain? Are we really any better than the priest or the Levite that walked past the injured man on the side of the road?

Matthew 7:1-2 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

This friend is the Words of Jesus! He didn’t pull any punches! He didn’t say judge the homeless but everyone else do not judge. He said: JUDGE NOT THAT YE BE NOT JUDGED.

I recently had the opportunity to meet a lady who works with the homeless. It is a state funded program that takes women with children and gets them off the street. Not everyone in this program are addicts, many are simply young women, due to one thing or another, ended up on the street with their children. I watched this lady, kneel down in front of a little boy, give him a hug and kiss the small ‘boo boo’ on his foot. She ministered compassion and love to this mother and small child.

As I toured the facility, and witnessed the incredible work they are doing to help these young women, my heart was pricked. I began to realize I have spent more time judging these ‘homeless’ people than I had praying for them or showing them the love of Christ. Somehow I had developed the mindset that they were all the same, ‘losers who didn’t want to work.’ I know that sounds harsh, but as I pull away from the light in the comfort of my car, it is very easy to forget the person I just saw standing there holding a sign. It is easy not to make eye contact, so as not to connect.

We proudly display our WWJD bumper stickers, and wear all the right t-shirts, but I ask you today to think long and hard, “what would Jesus do if He pulled up to the stoplight and there was a man holding a sign, “will work for food?” What would Jesus do if he was walking into the store and a young lady approached him for spare change? What did Jesus commission us to do?

Mark 16:15 go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

What gospel are we preaching? Would the homeless feel comfortable in our fine tabernacles? Are we willing to give the coat off our back or the shoes off our feet? We profess that we love God and have the love of God in us, but let me ask you to take notice of your feelings the next time you see a homeless person. Are you looking at them through the eyes of Christ or through jaded glass of self-righteous judgment?

I leave you with a few thoughts to ponder:

Hebrews 13:1 let brotherly love continue.

Is it possible that a good job ended and the man you see was forced to live in a car with his family? (Read the headlines you will see this is not uncommon) People that once lived in a comfortable home, suddenly lose everything.
Hebrews 13:2 be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Is it possible that the man you see on the street has a mother somewhere that prays daily for his safe return home?

Hebrews 13:3 remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

Is it possible that the young lady you see walking the streets is in the clutches of sin and needs to be carried to the cross? Maybe she needs someone to just say Jesus loves you. Maybe she has a mother and father that pray for their prodigal daughter to be returned.

Perhaps you feel like there is nothing you can do. But I am certain, if you seek God and ask Him to help you see everyone as He does, He will show you what to do. He will show you that His love is for everyone. Whether they fit into our copasetic little world or not, Jesus died on the cross so that everyone would come to know Him. He didn’t go through the agony of Calvary so that you and I would profess to know Him and then look down at one of his creatures in disgust.

When you share the love of Christ with that young lady on the street, wandering around looking for small change to feed her addiction, you just might be the one God has sent to lead my daughter back to the cross.

Mark 2:17 when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Matthew 25: 42-46
Heavenly Father, I recognize that I have been guilty of looking down on the less fortunate. I have grumbled and complained about their laziness or their lack of concern for their apparent well-being. I have judged according to the world’s standards rather than the Word of God. I have not always shown your love to those around me. I ask that You forgive me today for taking for granted the work you did on the cross. You delivered me and saved me and have blessed me abundantly, and yet I have not shared that appropriately. Lord I see today that Your love is for everyone, and it is not for me to judge anyone, but rather to love just as You love. I ask today that You help me to see those around me through eyes of Your Amazing Love. Help me Lord to spread the Gospel, and to know exactly what you would have me to do in each circumstance. I humble myself before you today in a broken realization that if it were not for your grace I too would be on a corner, holding a sign, "will work for food." Help me to be an ambassador of Your Love! Help me not to miss an opportunity to give! Help me Lord to no longer judge others, but to see them as You do! In Jesus Name, Amen!

© August 18, 2005 Jounda LaMance

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE