I try to give Gospel tracts to as many as I come across, so when I saw this young man coming towards me, I got one ready and handed it to him. A conversation then started.
“What is your name?”
“Mike,” he said.
I asked, “You live here in Cambridge?”
“I’m homeless.”
We have a number of homeless people here, and I often have to wonder what all they have to do to survive.
“I’m hungry. I might have to steal so I get something to eat.”
Before I met Mike, many times I wondered what I would do if I became homeless. So I told him what I would do.
“Mike, I have often wondered what I would do if I were in your shoes, and I figured I would go into a business somewhere, tell them I am homeless and ask if I would do something like perhaps sweep floors or clean windows could they give me a little food or buy a small amount of food for me.”
“You should not resort to stealing,” I continued. “Maybe if you’d go to a business like I said and they see you work well they might even give you employment.”
Well, with church funds I bought a small meal for him and gave him a soda I had. I then took the opportunity to tell Him about the saving grace of Christ. I am sorry to say he did not commit to Christ, and went his way.
I had to think, though, that the first option for his problem that came to his mind was to steal. Yet, others often pick the worst options for other dilemmas. For example, instead of marriage counseling, hordes of people seek a di- v – orce (I’ve purposely broken up that word so certain ads will not appear with this article). For fast money, some can only think of gambling, and more examples can be given.
Our sin nature manages to get us into such ruts which at times become our own spiritual graves, exactly where the devil wants us to be. However, Christ Himself said (John 10:10b), “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
God delights in raising the spiritually dead up from the graves they have dug for themselves. For His true disciples, God encourages us to spiritually stay above ground (Colossians 3:2), “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” In both cases, the person must cooperate with God.
Notes:
God willing, this shall be part of my Bible GemLight series as apatite001.
Very nice trick with the word divorce. People should try to see counseling before taking such a big step. I think people go in to marriage now a days with the intent that if it doesn’t work they can just get a quick divorce and get out of it.
Good stuff to read in the morning…