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Silver Or Gold I Do Not Have
I have been reading Acts over and over recently. I have been wanting to get a strong understanding of the early church. There are several areas I continue to return to, the most frequent is Acts 3:1-7:
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
This sticks out to me because it goes against my first reactions. When I am downtown and I see a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk, one of two things happens, either I will reach into my pocket and pull out some money to give him, or I will pretend I didn’t see him at all. To be honest the second happens far more often than the first. Not once has the first response been to tell him the good news of Jesus Christ. And it is this fact that has begun to nag at me. I try to ignore it, I try to pretend that it does not matter. I do enough as a Christian right?
I am not saying that giving this homeless man money is a bad thing, no, this is a very good thing, but why not take it one step further? My pastor sent me an email today with a link to a blog post, (here). As I read the post I began to cry, this is true love.
As I concentrated on shaving him he just looked at me with big eyes and a huge smile. He was comfortable. I was comfortable. A trust had been developed between us.
We are called to be witnesses for Christ, to be like Christ. Would Jesus just throw 75 cents into a hat or would he sit down and show him love? Money only goes so far, I want to be like Christ. I want to hug the homeless, to actually care. I don’t want to be the superficial Christian who drops some spare change their way. They need love, they need know someone cares. It doesn’t matter how they got there, it doesn’t matter why they are still there, they need someone. Christianity is about relationships, Christ came to have a relationship with us. He died to have a relationship with us. He calls us his friend. Who do we call our friends?
Of course he calls us to do this with everyone, not just the homeless. I used this as an example because to me, at least, this is where I have the hardest time. It is easy to show love to someone like you, but what about that “scary homeless guy who smells funny”? It’s harder to approach someone under those circumstances.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. - Mathew 28:19-20
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