No Excuses

You are His Ambassador

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” – Romans 15:7

The driver never saw him.  Every day he drove the same path home at night and every day the man was sitting along the side of the road.  His jeans torn, hole in his left shoe, a beard that I’m sure hadn’t been shaved, cleaned or combed in 5 years or more.  His eyes were sunken in his aged leather face, overshadowing the bluest eyes ever seen and his baldness was covered by an old John Deere hat that was tattered around the edges.  The driver passed right by him again on this cold winter day to pull into the drive thru at Starbucks and get his grande-extra hot-double Expresso Latte with light foam. 

As he pulled to the window, the girl slid the glass open and looked down into his Mercedes Benz.  Her dark black eye makeup, pierced lip, pierced eyebrow and nose drew his attention once again, but today the red and blue streaks in her hair caught him by surprise as she reached her fully tattooed arm towards him for his American Express, in exchange for his cup of coffee.  Shaking his head he drove away from the Starbucks and merged back into the traffic which separated him from his 6,000 square foot home in the ‘burbs and his martini by the fire.

Periodically, he would weave out into the oncoming traffic as he tried to pass that large Suburban in front of him; but to no avail.  He could see the dual DVD players in the car playing different cartoons for the children in the back seats.  Every now and then he would see one of them hit the other and he would see the Mom turn around from her driver’s position and try to calm the problem, as she cradled her cell-phone near her ear.  Finally, the opportunity cleared and he whipped his car out into the left lane as he attempted to pass.  Looking into her drivers window, he saw her face.  The tears had caused her mascara to leave streaks down her cheeks, as she tried to adjust her disheveled hair to save complete embarrassment to his gaze.

He exited into his subdivision, and pulled up to the security gate.  The afternoon guard gave him a nod from behind his small glass cube, and the gate slowly opened.  Looking at the guard, he realized that something was definitely wrong as he saw a second guard behind the window with his fingers pointing at the man’s chest.  At that moment the first guard slowly removed his badge and handed it over to the more aggressive man.  Not to be bothered by it, our driver proceeded through the gate and up the long driveway to his home.  Parking the Mercedes in garage number 2 (of 7) he closed the door behind him and walked into the large empty home for the night.

In every city, in every state, in every country around the globe similar things happen every single day.  We live, but we don’t see.  We see, but we don’t care.  We care, but we don’t act.  We act when it benefits us.  These are God’s children we see all around us.  We claim to be His child, yet offer no love or compassion to our brother or sister.  We are comfortable with Jesus as our Savior, but are we comfortable giving Him our life and making Him our Lord?  The blood that was shed, was not uniquely for you or for me, but for all of mankind.  Is it our right to refuse to offer the same love and compassion, that He poured out for us, to a stranger?  We are His feet, we are His hands, we are His eyes, we are His church.  We (you and me) have a responsibility to share His gospel, His truth, His love with everyone we meet.

Have you seen others in need?  What stops you from being Jesus to them? .  Jesus didn’t come to help the Pharisees, but the prostitutes, leapers, sick and poor.  Stop with the excuses and start with the action.  Let them see Christ, for it may be the first time, and it may be just in time.  For if tomorrow, the man is not on the corner, and the girl is not at the window, and the mother gives up on her family and the guard is not behind the glass; will you get another shot?  You are an ambassador for the living God and you need to take part in this experience of life.  Quit judging them and start loving them.  Start with your own home and work out from there, but start today.

© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
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