Just A Little Love Goes So Far

Background

The weather in the UK at the moment has me reflecting and thinking about those who at this time of year have nowhere to live, struggle to get themselves a hot meal and have limited access to warm clothing. It has me thinking about the old people who are living on their pensions and cannot afford to heat their homes, it has me thinking about the single parent families struggling to survive or the families living barely above the poverty line who have to make tough decisions about food or warmth. We live in a materially driven society that is so focused about the nice to have things that we lose sight of those who can’t even access the need to have things in life.

We can find many excuses and reasons as to why we cannot do anything about the plight of these individuals, but the reality is that we can do something, we can show a little love because a lot of the time, a single act of love can make the biggest difference and change the outcome of someone’s situation.

Reading

Matthew 25:36-40 New Living Translation (NLT)

I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

1 Corinthians 13:3 New Living Translation (NLT)

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

It has nothing to do with the people

When I started writing this I started with the intention of talking about the poor and how we needed to do more to help the poor and taking the focus off ourselves to look at others around us but as I searched for my scripture one line jumped out to me that changed the angle or better yet, the lens I looked at this through.

At this particular time the demographic I mentioned are the cause of concern because the environmental factors dictate that and bring them to the forefront of our attention but when summer rolls around, does this mean that their need is any less important? Does it mean that we don’t need to do anything to make their situation better? Does it mean that their need for help has diminished and we can forget about them till autumn?

Another way to look at it is this. I can work for an organisation such as Shelter or any of the homeless charities we have in the UK but if my participation in the activities of the organisation is driven purely by my need for income and I administer my role in a manner that is mechanical and lacking in empathy, is there any reason for me to be in such a role?

We are familiar with phrases as ‘doctors need to have good bedside manner’ well I think anyone in a role that deals with someone in a position of pain, misfortune, suffering or any other unfortunate scenario, should have ‘a good bedside manner’. I say it has nothing to do with the people because it really doesn’t. It has everything to do with your attitude and your outlook in that scenario. In some cases you may be the last human contact that the individual is planning to have before the commit suicide and how you interact with that person at that particular point in time could be the difference between life and death. I read once, and the source of the text escapes me currently, about an individual who had decided that they were going to take their own life but decided they would give the world one last chance to notice them. They said ‘God, if you are real then let the next person I speak to really notice me’ otherwise I will end my life. Some will say that this is pure chance or coincidence but I am inclined to side with the author and believe that God wanted to prove to this individual that he is real and moreover, he truly loves and cares about them.

The next person they spoke to not only acknowledged them, they engaged them in conversation, they took time to listen to them, the gave out of their time to be with this lost and broken individual. They showed grace and love to this individual. This stranger had unknowingly saved this person’s life and also set them on a journey to enter into a personal relationship with God.

How many times in our lives do we come across people who are homeless, crying in the street or just appear to be broken by something? How do we handle that situation? Do we deal with it like some of the employees of these charitable organisations do, an administrative task that they need to complete? Do we look at it as something we can throw money at to fix? Do we engage with the person and try to understand their plight?

My wife and I built a relationship with a homeless man in Nottingham. We had just finished a family meal and were heading back to the car park. Outside the car park we met David. I say met like we bumped into him and a jolly conversation began but actually, it was a much different to that.

David was sat in a corner by the car park with a small sign and a cup for people to drop loose change in. He had a blank expression on his face and did not engage the crowd of people that passed him. He literally looked like he was spaced out and on another planet. As we passed I felt an urge to stop and to talk to him so I did. I asked him what his name was and how he was doing. I asked him if he was hungry, which in hindsight was stupid question because the answer was obvious. I left my wife and family speaking with him as I rushed to KFC and the ATM to get some cash.

I handed David the food and we stayed with him for a while as he told us the story of how he ended up living on the street. David had a heart breaking story that is probably not uncommon in our society. He had been in a relationship, he had 2 children and his partner had a miscarriage. He never recovered from that loss and sunk into depression which cost him his relationship and sent him into a deeper depression. He became suicidal and was subsequently sectioned. Whilst in hospital, he lost his council home and his job so once released from hospital he had nothing. His partner was in a new relationship, his parents wouldn’t put him up and he had nowhere to turn to so he began sleeping rough. We spoke with David for almost an hour and we gave him some money to pay for a room at a homeless shelter so he could have a shower and a bed to sleep in for the night.

I asked if he was there most nights to which he replied ‘yes’ so every time we were in the city centre we would stop by and check up on him, get him some food, give him a gift but most importantly, stop and spend some time with him. His face would light up when he saw us on most occasions but there were days where he would be so down in the dumps by the time we saw him.

We talked about his family and encouraged him to try to see his kids, we talked about his claim for benefits and request for accommodation from the council. We talked about his strained relationship with his parents. We talked about his interests and what he’d been up to. We talked about how his day had been and how people had treated him that day. We would talk about the sneers and the side glances, the kids throwing chips at him, people pulling their children away from him, the police constantly telling him to move on and accusing him of begging. It became obvious why he enjoyed seeing us, we still treated him like a human being, whereas most people treated him like something they scraped off their shoe.

I can recall a day where we got on to the topic of church and Christians. David said “I avoid the church people” and I asked why. He responded as follows, “they always want to preach to me and that is it!” I was mortified when I heard this, as I had hoped that his interaction with the body of Christ would have been far more positive than any other interaction. I mean here is a community of people who have a blueprint, a guide for how to live. The blueprint is so clear that it is written in plain text:

I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

Here is an ample opportunity to demonstrate that and we mess it up completely. Nowhere in the text does it say “I was naked and you preached to me. I was sick and you told me about my sin. I was in prison and you wrote me letters telling me to repent”.

The text is so focus on the demonstration of love. The text is screaming compassion. All these Christians had to do was feed him, or talk to him and spend a little time listening to him. A man who is starving can’t eat your bible and your words fall on deaf ears because they were not wrapped up in an act of love.

I told David that I we were Christians and that Jesus loves him and we love him and that is why we come to see him and spend time with him. We did not have the resources to fix his problem but we had the time and willingness to show love and extend grace to him. David said he knew we were Christians but we weren’t like the other ones he had met, which was a relief!

We spent over a year visiting and checking up on David up until the point that he was given accommodation and he came off the streets.

I have not seen him since then but I do know this, the time that we spent with him has sown a seed that one day will bear fruit. We continue to pray for him and we continue to help others like him as we come across them in the streets of Nottingham. I have no doubt in my mind that David is helping and supporting someone who is going through what he has been through.

Why have I gone on so much about David and our friendship with him? Well I see it like this, our responsibility as Christians is to be light in darkness, to be the salt of the earth. We are supposed to be Christ like and I always think, ‘if Jesus were here or in my situation, what would he do?’ and that is how I attempt to react to the circumstances. Now, let me be honest, I am human and sometimes I do me. Do I regret this, of course I do because the holy spirit weighs heavy on me. I end up feeling like Jonah in the belly of the whale and sometimes it is too late because the opportunity has passed. What I can categorically say is that whenever I feel led to stop and talk to someone on the street, I am obedient to do so because you never know where that encounter is going to take you or the person you have stopped to talk to.

Grace was freely given to us so why should we be stingy with it? Let us extend it freely and talk to those who no one else will give the time of day. Spare a moment to find out a little about the people who are sleeping rough and you will find out that some of your preconceived ideas are so far from the truth. I have met people who have lost their jobs, I have met people whose relationships fell apart, I have met army veterans who have put their lives on the line for our freedom and come home to find there was no support once they left the army. Not every homeless person is a drunk or drug abuser. Even the drunks and drug abusers have a story. Substance abuse has an underlying cause and it is usually a form of escapism for individuals.

If Jesus were here today, he would not be found amongst the rich and wealthy. He would be found amongst the lost, the broken, the substance abusers, the prisoners and every outcast of society you can think of. In all his encounters with the ‘lost’ he never once preached to or condemned them, he told them stories and spoke to them about the love of the Father. He fed them and communed with them. His simple act of meeting them where they were was enough to transform their lives. Well the same Jesus that met people at their point of need is still the same Jesus. He has given us the power and the authority to act on his behalf and meet the people around us at their point of need. He has given us the comforter, the holy spirit, who empowers us to do greater things than the apostles did but we can’t get out of the gates because we are chained by our pride and pompous attitudes. We are sickened and appalled by the religious leaders who condemned Jesus to death but we are their modern counter parts. We continually condemn Jesus to death with our attitude, our self-righteousness, our entitlement, our false gratitude, our false humility and lack of integrity and materialistic behaviour. Many of us have become high end Christians who are only interested in the Jesus who blesses them and their bank account. We have forgotten about the Jesus who had no home of his own, who ate what was provided for him, who sent his disciples out with nothing but the clothes on their backs. There is nothing wrong with working hard and having nice things but when these become all your Christianity is about then you have things twisted.

I had a conversation today with a dear friend and one of the things we concluded on was that a life centred on showing the love of Christ and with that as your measure of success will always bear fruit in many areas, including financial. A life which is measured on financial success is just that and is not likely to bear any fruit in that is centred in the love of Christ. Now I am not saying that finances do not open doors to show the love of Christ because obviously financial success brings access to resources and opportunities but 9 out of 10 times someone in this position did not set out with the intention of showing the love of Christ, they set out to make money and that is their sole goal and focus. People that focus on money first see what they do for others as philanthropy and charity in my personal opinion.

When you set out with the objective to show the love of Christ through everything that you do, you build it into all your activities. It dictates your lifestyle, it dictates your business objectives and decisions, it will cost you major deals because sometimes a Christ centric view doesn’t line up with the most profitable view. People on this path do not see what they do as charity or philanthropy. The see it as their God given mandate and responsibility. They start with the intention of showing love and the blessing and opportunities come that bring financial reward and allows them to take things to a new level.

I don’t want to labour the point so I will end with 1 Corinthians 13. Show love and let love lead you to great things.

1 Corinthians 13 New Living Translation (NLT)

Love Is the Greatest

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.