How does Jesus see them?

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! (I Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG)

Some think we need to have experienced every element of a person's life in order to bring hope or grace into their lives. I don't need to experience homelessness to understand the homeless need a solid meal every day, a shower a few times a week, and fresh clothing when they shower. I understand they have to find places where they can nestle down for the night, but that they fight the elements, noise, and others in order to do so. I understand their fatigue because they have to always be on the move in order to avoid being fined by the local authorities. I can do very practical things to help them right where they are and so can you!

The message of Christ is one of hope - to bring hope to the hopeless. If you have never experienced the smile from a homeless man or woman when you take time to talk with them, providing an honest ear that really listens to their story in order to understand their heart, you might just come to understand the way many of them are treated with a lack of dignity by those who simply pass them by. They feel looked down upon simply because they aren't 'fresh and clean'. They feel pain and constant fatigue from the lack of nutritious food and the inadequacies of their hygienic practices. They feel 'judged' and 'rejected'.

Then comes the holiday season when it seems like consciences are 'pricked' a bit and donations begin to come into the food banks and clothing closets in massive ways. The 'coffers' are filled for just a moment in time, then things return to 'normal', where mac and cheese is the greatest 'offering' coming into those food banks. What happened to the generosity of the many who provided the turkey and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, or the new jackets at Christmas? Did the need suddenly change? Not at all - the 'sense of need' in the hearts of those who gave that one time just didn't remain active in their hearts.

Look all around you. There are homeless - down on their luck, unable to qualify for rising housing costs, barely able to hold down the most menial of jobs at minimum wage. There are teenagers just hanging out because they have no one interested in their lives, too busy with their own lives to notice they are drifting into mischief that they could have been kept from. You will see battered women who have been told repeatedly that they are too 'stupid' and 'ugly' that no one would want them. You might even see the impressively dressed executive looking like life is going all so well, but deep within their hearts they are considering taking their own empty lives. 

We never know where God will take us in our day, or who he will place in our path that we might have both the means and ability to touch. We must remain sensitive to those around us - open to seeing beyond the surface and willing to make the investment that will bring hope, help, and healing into those lives who need it so badly. We don't need to have experienced their present condition - we just need to be sensitive to seeing them as Jesus does. Just sayin!