“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 3:5
Another World
I have been blessed to live a middle-class life. I have not wanted for much; I have always had employment and food and medical care. But I am acutely aware of those who do not have that life.
At various times, I’ve needed to walk on a particular route to get somewhere, and have seen the poorest of the poor sitting with their meager belongings—their shopping cart, their plastic tarp, their cardboard sign—under an empty storefront, or on the steps of a broken-down building, or beside a dumpster. I have seen their thin bodies and scraggly hair and empty eyes. And I have been one of those who have passed on the other side of the road, like those in the Bible who did not meet the needs of the man who was robbed and beaten. The Good Samaritan stepped up. I did not. I was the woman in smart business attire, carrying my briefcase, hurriedly clicking my heels on the sidewalk to get to my tidy, well-appointed office job. I never glanced up into people’s eyes, only down at my phone or smartwatch.
I’ve heard the arguments about safety, about being wise and discerning. I know the law enforcement asks us not to make the problem in our area worse by making this a comfortable place for the homeless to beg. I know sometimes, many times perhaps, any money we give may be used to purchase things that are not good for them. I take this all to heart—really, I do.
The poor and the not-poor live in two different worlds. The words of the not-poor are mere platitudes to the poor. The words of the poor are mere excuses to the not-poor.
I do not have answers to the problems. But this I know: Though there may be “different worlds,” there is only one God. This God breached the gap. This God left His world, put on flesh to enter our world, and made a way for us to join Him in His world. The great gulf between the heaven and earth—between God and man—has a bridge over it now. Thanks be to God for His great gift of His Son, Jesus Christ!
How is the gap bridged between the rich and the poor? How are these two worlds—or any other vast cultural divide—to be reconciled to one another? It will only happen if each individual is reconciled to God.
Father, I desire Your kind of love—the love that may see and smell and hear the hardest things, and the least understandable things—the love that gives and embraces and cares for all people. May each of us be reconciled to You, and then to one another. Amen.
Insightful and probing. We have “the poor always with us.” May we exercise wisdom in reaching out to them as God leads us. Let not our hearts become cold or complacent.
We must remember there is a human being under that outward appearance who desperately needs the love that we have to give… that the Lord Jesus gave to us. We don’t have to hand them cash, but we do have things to give… even if it’s only prayer.