Feel Good Wednesday #24

I give up! I can't find the story in the Bible. I know it's there. So if I give you the run-down of it and you know where it's found, will you PLEASE leave a comment or email me and let me know. I will be sure and mark it in my Bible.

The run-down (my version going from an awful memory):
Jesus goes to woman's home, dressed as a beggar so she won't know it's really Him. He knocks on the door and is trying to see if she will let Him in and how she will treat Him. Again, that's my story. But what I get from this is Jesus wants us to not look on the outward appearances of people and to not judge people just by how they look, dress, or their physical handicaps.

This year, especially, I think God is really trying to make me think about this. About how I can judge people too quickly. What if the man on the street corner was Jesus asking for money? Would we stop, then, and not only give him our last dime but we would put him in our car and take Him home with us? What if the visitor sitting on the back pew of our church that smelled like they hadn't bathed, stained clothes, holes in his/her clothes.....what IF this person was really Jesus? What if the person outside your office building with his bicycle propped against the bench while he looked for leftover cigarette buds was really Jesus? These are the thoughts I have been thinking as I see people that do not look like the "average Joe" out in the world. We all need to have a lot more compassion for each other and those not-so-average Joe's out there. We need to bear more fruit. We say we are the body and drink of the wine....but do we try to reach the harvest?

Matthew 7:1-5 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

John 15:12 "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."

The Twenty-first Time

by Monk & Neagle

Nowhere to live

Nowhere to fall

He used to have money

But he’s wasted it all

His face is a photograph burned in my mind

But I pretend not to see him for the twenty-first time

He sleeps under stars, it’s all he can afford

His blanket’s an old coat he’s had since the war

He stands on the corner of Carter and Vine

But I pretend not to see him for the twenty-first time

He may be a drifter who’s grown old and gray

But what if it’s Jesus and I walk away

I say I’m the body and drink of the wine

But I pretend not to see him for the twenty-first time

She’s 29 but she feels 48

She can’t raise three kids on minimum wage

She’s crying in back of the welfare line

But I pretend not to see her for the twenty-first time

She may be a stranger trying to get through the day

But what if it’s Jesus and I walk away

I say I’m the body and drink of the wine

But I pretend not to see her for the twenty-first time

This is a call for a change in my heart

I realize that I’ve not been doing my part

When I needed a Savior, I found it in Him

He gave to me, now I’ll give back to them

Drifter or stranger, daughter or son

I’ll look for Jesus in everyone

‘Cause I am the body and drink of the wine

And I’m thankful there’s more than the twenty-first time

I hope you can stop yourself next time you start having judging thoughts about someone you see. Just because they're not you, doesn't mean they don't have Jesus. Or maybe they don't have Jesus and He is trying to see if you will be compassionate to them. We're not perfect, but we can start trying to be more like Jesus, can't we?

I hope you have a Happy Feel Good Wednesday.