Since I moved to Atlanta I noticed at certain gas stations you can find a collection of Hispanic people waiting on the curb, hoping to find random freelance work. As I was driving I was thinking of ways to show God’s love to them. They probably experience a lot of racial tension from the locals, so I am guessing if they saw a local kid doing anything for them it would speak a lot. It was a hot day so I thought, “I should bring them waters”. As I was thinking of ways to connect with them, I drove by a huge billboard that read, “Pet Spa”. It had a huge picture of a dog on a beach chair and just relaxing. As I read on, I learned that you can send your dog to an air conditioned, customized relaxation room, with treats and filtered water.
I understand why people do this, it’s because they are attached to their pet. I believe that we usually do a lot for the people or things we are attached to. Sometimes we can be over-attached. Parents can be over-attached and spoil their child, or in this case, over-attached pet owners spoiling their pet.
“Where your heart is, your treasure is also” – Jesus
I used to judge people for buying really expensive useless items when there are people all over the world dying of curable diseases. God showed me that if those people were walking past a person that needed water to live, a good amount of those people would do something about it. But it’s because it’s not right in front of us that we are detached from people dying from the lack of water. That is what makes it so easy for us to buy those useless things [myself included].
During a famine in France, someone approached the queen, Marie Antoinette, with the fact that people are starving with no bread to eat. She replied, “let them eat cake”. She either did that to show that she doesn’t care about them, or she did that without knowing that it showed her lack of care. Either way, she was very detached from them, not knowing their needs, not knowing that cake isn’t as available to them as it is to her.
Detachment is what allows us to so easily not care for our neighbor and attachment allows us to understand and meet the needs of those around us. This is why it’s starting to make sense that Jesus wants us to be unified.
If you own a material possession, see a brother in need and don’t take pity on him, the love of God is not in you. [paraphrased from 1 John 3:17]
Maybe our problem is not that we aren’t taking pity on those in need, but we are refusing to see those that are in need?
your friend,
-Isaac
One Comment
Isaac, you make a valid point here. But what do you think is more important? Telling them about God, or fulfilling their physical needs, such as food and water?
I live in Bolivia as a Missionary kid, and every day I see beggars on the street and it breaks my heart. Little kids who aren’t old enough to work, or young enough to be cart kids. People who are injured so they can’t work, or old men or women who have to care for their grandchildren with no way to provide. It’s horrible. But sharing God is more important than sharing food.
My sister once gave a sandwich to a beggar who stopped by our house. The beggar returned, and she gave him another sandwich. He told other beggars and homeless people who hung out near our block about us, and soon, we got two, three, and sometimes five beggars a day asking for food. Eventually, my sister stopped giving them food, and started witnessing. Some of them grew violent, but they never came back. Personally, I think that while the physical needs are important, the spiritual needs are even more so.
What I’m saying isn’t very clear, I apologize. I’m not saying that volunteering at orphanages or soup kitchens, being kind, giving to the poor, or just being a human and doing good things aren’t important. Because they are. What I AM saying, however, is that you can’t be a real Christian if their souls don’t come first. You’re not helping anyone if you fill their bellies and not their hearts. That’s why I’d rather witness to people than feed them. If I could do both, I would, but witnessing has to be the most important thing.