What do you do when you see that guy? You know who I’m talking about. The old, grungy looking guy that represents hundreds of others in various forms. It’s the person that you’ve encountered at a red light, at the airport or in the parking lot of the grocery store. He or she comes up to you and asks for some money to buy something to eat because they’re hungry.
If you’re like me, you’ve been taught to smile apologetically, cock the head sideways and say, “Sorry, but no” or, if you feel compelled, you do the noble thing and go buy them a hamburger. And if the truth be known, sometimes the reason we buy them a hamburger is not so much to fill a hunger issue as much as it is to avoid an alcohol or cigarette issue. It’s almost like saying, “ Aha! I know what you really want the money for. You won’t trick me, I’ll just go and buy you what you’re saying you want.” Okay, so maybe it’s not really that bad, but close. We don’t want to contribute or enable a bad habit and so we think this response is spiritually noble, not to mention one step ahead of the person asking for money.
Last week we were eating at McDonald’s and a man of lowly means came to our table and looked directly into my eyes and asked if I had a little bit of money so he could get something to eat. I looked him square in the eye, without a hint of remorse, and said, “No, I don’t.” He left and went to the next booth. Mitchell asked me what he said and I told him and we went on eating our lunch. A few minutes later, out of nowhere, a verse that I recently read came flooding across my mind and heart. This is what it says:
Matthew 5:40-42
And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
I looked at Randy and attempted to paraphrase the above verse that I just now copied/pasted from my Bible Software. When I was recalling the verse it didn’t exactly come out like the above verse. It was more like, “Randy, what do we do with that verse that talks about someone asking for your coat and you’re to give him your britches also and then take a walk for a few more miles than intended, etc.” We both just sat there and then felt like we needed to go back and give him some money. So Randy went and gave some money to him. Whether we were buying him a cheap glass of wine or not, I don’t know. I do know Randy had given this guy a ride a few weeks prior. He’s had multiple surgeries and not in a great place in life. I’m glad I’m not dealing with the stuff he’s dealing with.
I feel like God is trying to teach me something because just a few weeks ago I was at a stop light and a man in a wheel chair very aggressively power rolled his wheelchair almost into the ladies tire in front of me. He motioned for her to roll her window down. She did the “pretend he’s not there look” and just stared straight ahead. This was irritating the man in the wheelchair and it was sort of freaking me out a bit because I knew I would be next in line if she didn’t roll down her window. He was a scary looking man and I didn’t want to talk to him. I was getting frustrated that he would drive in the middle of the road and then get upset that the woman wouldn’t roll down her window. The light turned green and we all drove by the man in the wheel chair quickly pursuing our next task without much physical effort. And then the thought crossed my mind that maybe I just blew off an angel. For real, do you ever wonder about that verse in Hebrews? The one that says to entertain strangers and that some people in doing so have entertained angels. RRrrikes!!!! Well, angel or not, I felt like Jesus was spurring me to think about the man I just so carelessly drove by. I heard phrases in my heart like “ you do for ME when you do for the least of these”.
I learned a powerful lesson a few years back. We had bought a low income family some clothes for the kids and given shoes to them and later found out that the kids never got to wear them because the parents had returned them for money/ cigarettes. I can’t tell you how badly this ate me up. Randy really helped me work this through though. And he said, “Melody, sometimes we’re going to get burned, even in doing what God has put on our heart. But is it worth it if we know we’ve done what God asked us to do? We can’t control anything that happens after we’ve done what we feel God put on our heart so we need to let it rest.” Um, wow. And this is why I love my man so much. He just sets me straight right when I need it, which happens to feel like all the stinkin’ time.
So here’s where I am in my spirit with this issue right now: I want to be sensitive enough to the Holy Spirit so that when someone asks me for anything I will sense if it’s the right thing to do based on what I sense from the Holy Spirit….not based on if I think the end result will look like what I want it to (a nice warm burger combined with a cordial invite to church). I don’t want to necessarily have a pat answer or a routine way of handling things all lined up in my head ( if they have alcohol on their breath then it’s an automatic NO WAY HOSEA) …..that takes away from the creativity and unique leading of the Holy Spirit. I long to trust God in these situations, who knows everything about the person on the other side of the story. I may never know the other side of the story but maybe in heaven I’ll learn that I just gave $10 to an angel or treated a celestial being to their first Whopper. How cool would that be? I totally want to do that, don’t you? Nah, I just want to treat others the way Jesus would. Even if it means getting burned a few times. I just can’t see Jesus getting annoyed with either of the men that were asking for money this past week.
What about you? What do you do when you see that guy asking for money?
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