One of my friends posted this on facebook today, and I was more convicted than I can tell you, so I wanted to share this with my blog world. (I hope you don't mind Travis)
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What is the first thought that comes into your head when you pull up to a stop light, and there is a homeless person on the corner asking for money? I think if you're honest with yourself sometimes it's not a very good thought. I encountered this situation yesterday and it changed my life.
As I pull up to the light I see ahead a man standing next to the road. Clothes torn, he has a cast on his right arm, and a cup in his left hand. Now before I even have time to feel compassion or love for this man, my human instincts kick in and I imidiately start saying to myself "turn green, turn green, turn green". Well turns out I don't have magical powers so I sat at the light. As I watched him ask for money I selfishly was thinking don't come back here. Then I started thinking this guy is just lazy, or why doesn't he go get a job instead of just begging for money. And just like that with in 5 seconds I had labled this guy a bad man, while knowing nothing about him. And for whatever reason, my plans for the next few months came into my head. I am going to be looking to buy a truck soon, so now in my head Im going over what kind I want, what looks good, what kind of loan I'm gonna take out. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. What is worse? A man who has absolutely nothing and is asking for some change just to get some food or water to survive. Or me, a guy who has pretty much everything he needs and is asking the bank for money, because what he has now doesn't look good enough. And one would think that would be enough to convict a person. But being the people we are, we don't like to feel convicted do we? So what did I do? I did what any other human would do, I tried to justify the situation. I said ok so what if I did give this guy some money, he's just gonna spend it on alcohal. Or better yet he's probably a drug addict and will spend it on drugs, so really Im helping him out by not giving. And just when I start to feel better about myself, as if I deserve that, God once again uses my life to tear me down. What is worse? A man who uses every penny he get's to feed an addiction that will make him feel good. Or me, a guy who uses every extra penny he has on thing's that make him feel good, like shoe's, tv's, and car's. And if you don't think those are addictions I dare you to go just one week without any of them. And if you think this is the end of the story and I went back and helped the guy out, you would be giving me to much credit. Once again I tried to convince myself I was a better person than this man. I said it's ok for me to buy and to have these thing's because I am only spending my extra money. First I take care of the things I need, he doesn't have any of the things he needs. And after that I was left with one last question. And I want you to ask yourself the same question.
Why are my extra's NOT his needs?
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