A while back, I was sitting in the break room eating lunch with a couple of young guns when I received a text from my wife, “Do you mind if a homeless couple spends the night with us tonight?” One of my friends immediately gave me a high five and said, “Dude, that’s awesome! Your wife rocks!” The other said, “No @#%$ way!” and expressed his fear and reservation to such a request. I thought the two responses were interesting because I instantly felt both emotions. My two friends represented the battle that goes on within our own hearts when we are faced with entering into the plight of others.
It is probably because of the urban setting, but since our move to Denver, we have definitely been exposed to more homelessness and street corner beggars than we ever did in our 20+ years in our suburban Atlanta home. It has not been uncommon to be asked by a stranger for gas money while gassing up our own car or for bus fare as we leave the grocery store or for a dollar for some coffee as I enter the McDonald’s. Most of these requests are harmless and simple. They aren’t going to break my bank. These strangers simply need a couple of bucks to keep them going on their journey.
To my shame, I have not always responded well to even these simple requests. I have questioned the validity of the requests, the character of the one requesting and whether if it is even good stewardship of my money to give it randomly to strangers. In fact, I believe I have been trained in my religious world to be cautious in this area. Heaven forbid that I give money to a stranger who may use it to perpetuate their own bad habits! But Kingdom living demands a different response.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches what this Kingdom looks like and how we are to live in it. At one point, He says, “Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” The Gospel of Luke records it like this, “Give to everyone who asks you.” Jesus says this in the context of responding to your enemies, to an evil person, to someone who is taking advantage of you. He is saying, that regardless of validity or character, we should respond generously and graciously to everyone who makes such requests. This is the Kingdom way! Sounds irresponsible, doesn’t it? Sounds like a quick way to the poor house! But maybe that’s the point. Jesus became poor so that we could be rich. Maybe we should become poor so that others can be rich. We will never follow the radical teachings of Jesus without changing our consumer-minded, materialistic-driven, American Dream ideology. Our eyes need to be opened to the Kingdom and to Kingdom ways.
So Pattie and I have made some adjustments. We are a tightly budgeted family but we have set aside some money (not much but some) just to respond to these random strangers we meet along the way. We don’t normally carry cash but we carry this cash so we can readily respond to those in need. You can only give what you have and if you don’t plan to give, you will consume it on yourself. Take this challenge with us. Set aside 10 or 20 dollars a week during the month of October for “everyone who asks.” See who God brings along your path that you can make rich, someone who needs to experience the “good news of the Kingdom of God” rather than just hearing about it. If no one asks, let it accumulate and give it to World Vision or some organization that helps the poor. And then, please, I want to hear your stories. Let me know how God uses you.
So what about the couple who wanted to spend the night? I’ll get to that in the next post.
