Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing, Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming so I can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good time?” Who give little and take much, and never do an honest day’s work. You exploit the poor, using them— and then, when they’re used up, you discard them. Amos 8:4-6 Message Bible

I ran across this and was humbled by it. When was the last time you cared enough to stop and pray with them? Or even to stop and buy a burger or spend a little cash for a box of cereal? I don’t spend my money foolishly or lavishly. We live modestly on a pretty fixed income, but when an opportunity comes for me to give, I do it as though it were Jesus himself asking. Everything I have is His and my goal is always to honor Him with my money and my life.

A few years ago my son-in-law stopped at the grocery store to pick up something on his way home. Our middle granddaughter saw a homeless man in the parking lot and asked her dad if she could give him the $20 bill she had just received as a Christmas gift. I can’t tell you how much that blessed me.

Let’s not become so callused by the stories we hear that we don’t honor and respect people as children of God. They don’t have to be serving Him to be His child. The prodigal son was still his fathers son even when he was in the world sowing his wild oats and spending all his money. When he came to his senses, he came home to a welcoming embrace.

Be the Fathers arms of embrace and let them know how valuable they are. Do something that would put a smile on your heavenly Fathers face for one of His lost ones.

Sandy G