Loving Others

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18; NLT)

I was driving down the road on my way home from work when I passed him. He was standing there by the light holding a sign that read. "Homeless and living in my car. Please help." He was a young man, who looked to be in his early to mid 20's. As he and his sign grew smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror, I suddenly felt this urge to turn the car around and go back. As I pulled into the grocery store parking lot, I knew I needed to go in and get some food for this young man. I had $20 in my wallet which was supposed to last me for another week and a half until I got paid again. I walked into the store and grabbed some bread, peanut butter, jelly, applesauce, bottled water, and some other various items and headed to the checkout line. I had spent nearly all of the $20 that I had. I walked out, got in the car, and headed back over to where I had seen the young man. I had no idea what I was going to say to him when I saw him. When I pulled over next to where he was, I rolled down my window and said. "Hi. These are for you. I then proceeded to hand him the four bags of items, smiling. He just looked at me. So, I said, "Have a good day" and I drove off. Maybe I was supposed to say something more. I don't know. There was no prompting to say anything, just to provide this young homeless man with food. Even though I've never seen him again, I think about this man often and wonder how he is doing. I know God was directing me to do what I did that day. My own selfishness would have kept me from giving someone my last $20 bill. I keep hearing "whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me" over and over in my head. I can't even tell you the number of times I have passed homeless people on that corner and never stopped to see if I could help, and for that I ask for forgiveness. O God, forgive me for my selfishness and pride! The truth of the matter is, right now I could be in that young man's shoes. I could be homeless. I know what it is like to struggle financially. I know what it is like to have made some pretty big, life altering mistakes, but I also know the love of God and the love of others around me. The last 4 years of my life have had a nomadic existence. Moving from place to place and trusting that God will provide. God moved in the hearts of several people to provide a place for me to live. A place to sleep, and food for me to eat. They loved me and accepted me in my weakness and they provided these things for me, expecting nothing in return. God provided all of that for me as an expression of his love for me. Thinking about this, I have to wonder how many opportunities I have missed to allow God to use me as an expression of love towards someone else. I can't change what I have done in the past and I know that God forgives me. I know he loves me despite my selfish actions. Now, I move forward to show others the very same self-less love that has been lavished on me. There are a lot of people out there who need to know the love of God. They need to know that they are worth something and that their past mistakes or their present circumstances need not be their future. Is there someone in your life that you know needs to know the love of God? What is stopping you from showing them?