pramsay posted on November 01, 2005 00:00 1278 views

A christian should be different but am I? How often do I help someone
who is obviously struggling in life? We bend over backwards to help a
person with influence and affluence. We feel good, we feel important
when we help a significant person. Who knows when it will pay off!!
Graduates seeking success are told: ‘build relationships; expand your
network and add a new name to your contact list today.’

We
sure don’t mind people seeing us talking to the Mayor downtown, or a
hockey star at the airport or a lawyer at the coffee shop. Those are
encounters we would be certain to tell others about. We would try to do
it casually to suggest that we hob-knob with people like that every
day. No big thing – nothing out of the ordinary for sure! We engage in
the buggy little habit called ‘name-dropping.’ “Yeah, isn’t that
funny. I just happened to bump into Mayor Fulbright this morning and
she was saying the long range forecast is calling for a cloudy wet
summer
.”

As for the poor kid with the beat up old
skateboard, or the man curled up on the blanket outside the store, or
the single mom pushing the rickety old stroller puffing on a cigarette
or the squeaky clean old lady in the shabby coat who sits on the bench
every day – as for her? As for them? “Well, its not my thing to go
up to a person like that and start a conversation. Besides, I am too
busy. Government will help them out. They won’t starve to death. If I
befriend them, they will become a nuisance. Let them fend for
themselves like the rest of us have to! If they made different choices
in life, they wouldn’t be living like that!”

Psalm 72 is
beautiful. The social milieu is going to be different then. The power
structure is going to shift and take on a completely new look. When
Christ reigns for those 1000 years, the foster kids, the poor, the down
and outers, the social misfits, the homeless, the oddities, the
nuisance derelicts, the minorities, the under-privileged and the
disadvantaged – all of them will be the special objects of His
compassion and care. He will make sure they are not overlooked. He will
make sure they get a fair trial. He will take ‘affirmative action’ to
enable them to catch up with the rest of society. He will punish those
who try to walk over the downtrodden, or take advantage of them.

When the Lord Jesus has “dominion…from sea to sea and from the River unto the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:8) “He shall the judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy...”
(vs.4) Someone has paraphrased verses 12-14 like this: “He rescues the
poor at the first sign of need, the destitute who have run out of luck.
He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out, He restores the
wretched of the earth. He frees them from tyranny and torture…”

That’s
when He reigns on Earth. But today He is reigning in the Christian’s
heart! So His values, priorities and principles should govern my life
today. If you want to be like Christ today, here is something concrete
you can do: find someone who fits the description above and show them
kindness – not feeling-sorry-for-you kindness, but respectful kindness
with dignity. That’s what Christ expects of me today!

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