“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
- Matthew 25:35 ESV
I was sitting on the porch this morning watching my human drink his coffee and read his Bible.
That’s nothing unusual around here.
Coffee. Bible. Porch. Me.
It’s kind of our morning routine.
But this morning, something caught his attention.
A stray dog.
He stood there watching it wander down the road. No collar. No home. Just a skinny dog looking for somewhere to belong.
I watched my human watch that dog.
Then, a little while later, we saw a homeless man walking along the same road.
And I noticed something change in my human.
He got quiet.
He looked at the man for a little longer than he had looked at the dog.
Then he said something I’ve heard before.
“But by the grace of God, go I.”
Now, I’m just a dog, but I know something about strays.
You don’t always know how they got there.
Maybe they wandered away.
Maybe somebody left them behind.
Maybe they were never cared for in the first place.
And I guess people can be a lot like that.
Sometimes life gets hard.
Sometimes choices have consequences.
Sometimes circumstances pile up until a person finds themselves somewhere they never intended to be.
And sometimes, if we’re honest, we’re closer to that person than we want to admit.
The truth is, none of us are standing where we stand because we earned every bit of it.
We have received grace.
We have been given mercy.
We have been loved when we were unlovable.
We have been found when we were lost.
That ought to change the way we look at people.
Jesus didn’t tell us to serve only the people who had their lives together.
He told us to love our neighbors.
To care of the hungry.
To welcome the stranger.
To help the hurting.
To give without expecting something in return.
In other words, He called us to see people differently.
Not as problems.
Not as inconveniences.
Not as people who got what they deserved.
But as people made in the image of God.
People who need grace.
Just like me.
So maybe the next time we see a stray dog, a homeless man, a hurting family, or somebody who seems to have fallen through the cracks, we should pause before we pass judgment.
Maybe we should ask a better question:
“What can I do?”
Because grace isn’t just something we receive.
Grace is something we give away.
And if Jesus has been gracious enough to find us, maybe we ought to be willing to help somebody else find their way home.
I’m learning that being a good dog means knowing when to sit beside my human.
Being a good Christian means knowing when to get up and go serve somebody.
And that, I guess, is the difference between seeing someone who is hurting… and seeing someone who needs Jesus.
Lord, help me remember that but by Your grace, go I.
And help me be willing to serve the people You put in my path.
Amen.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
