The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

We’ve all seen them on corners or huddled at the base of a wall...homeless people. Dirty. Some begging, some staring blankly. Some with nothing and some with a grocery cart full of found items. My emotions are always piqued when I see people in unfortunate stages of life and, admittedly, my thoughts swing from empathy to disdain. I react on appearances alone...and for that I am humbled into shame.

It’s common knowledge that many of our homeless are actually very intelligent people that simply fell into tough situations. This is why I believe that when a global catastrophe hits, we could very well be looking up to some of these men and women to be our leaders.

Let’s face it, they’re already superior survivalists. Most of us simply put a case of MREs, a flashlight and a few cases of water in our hall closet and proudly claim, “Hey, I’m ready.”

I can’t think of any better training for living off the land than those that meet that challenge every day of their lives for their existence. Once the playing field is leveled (no pun intended) I can see some very intuitive people rising up to become the ones we “oh-so-prepared-ones” look towards to get us through the tough times.

It also gives me pause that I may have more than just the homeless framed within a very myopic view. I see people every day and make judgements on the fly. Perhaps not very harsh judgements...but judgements nonetheless.

I wonder how many people saw John the Baptist the first time and chalked him off as some “crazy, surly-looking dude that I wouldn’t touch for nothin”? Would I have been one of those people...probably. Would I have been one that never got to hear the Word of God because I made a hasty judgement about someone...probably.

And there it is. The reality check that stares us all in the face.

We need to see those around us as Jesus saw people in His day...like God sees His creation every day. Until we can do that, we may just find ourselves passing over people with nothing more than a glance...only to find out we have missed a great opportunity to know one of God’s creations in a more personal and fulfilling way. Regardless of our desire to make it all about us individually, we live in a world made up of a fine fabric that the Creator has designed and we should embrace each and every opportunity to understand how this world is tailored.

Greg Morton
Copyright © April, 2016
To view a printable copy of this commentary click here