| “Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar.” |
| —Psalm 138:6 |
Have you ever walked through the streets of a large city at dusk and passed groups of homeless people as they began to gather in a place where they will spend the night? Different individuals have quite different reactions when they view these people who are down on their luck.
Whenever I encounter homeless people, I wonder how Jesus would respond to them. In that moment, I feel shame that I often am afraid of them and I recognize that what I am feeling would not be how my Lord would feel. He would feel compassion, concern, and deep love. Most of us find it very hard to love the unlovely.
In many ways, I actually consider myself “unlovable” by my fellow humans—at the same time, I know God loves me. In spite of how I feel about myself, when faced with people who have descended to a place where they never anticipated they would end up, to my sadness I do not immediately respond with the same compassion, concern, and love that Jesus would feel toward these ones.
When we meet people at the crossroads of life, one of the things we must learn as Christians is to set aside our preconceived notions, our predispositions, and our prejudices. We need the eyes of our Savior to see these ones—ones He would consider dear—as He would see them. King David captured this very thought when he wrote these words found in Psalm 138:6:
Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar.
The very fact that, even from the lofty heights of His eternal home, God sees the lowly and looks kindly on them should motivate us to do the same. We should applaud those whom God has called to specifically work with the downtrodden in this world. At the same time, we should be willing to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and extend His love to everyone who crosses our pathway, even those individuals who make us feel uncomfortable.
Let’s begin this new day by asking God to soften our hearts toward those to whom He would use us, in order to extend His lovingkindness and tender mercies. We will represent our Great King in a much better way if we take on His heart and extend His love to everyone, no matter what their current circumstances might be.
