I sat there on this
porch, with these men as I awaited the return of my money. I traveled 45 minutes from Jackson to receive
the promised payback of my $300.00. I
should have known the situation I was putting myself in as I was directed by
the man who owed me my money to turn down an obscure gravel road off of highway
98. We traveled down this road for about
4 miles before pulling into what could hardly be called a home. I should have
never been on this porch to begin with.
The feeble state of that front porch represented the situation I would
soon find myself in.
Two weeks prior to this
day, I met a man who was in need of some help.
We struck up a casual conversation about life at a gas station in the
inner city of Jackson Mississippi. I
learned that this man was living in and out of hotels as he was able to afford
it. Upon hearing his story, my
compassion for the man and his estate led me to purchase him a 3 night stay at
a local motel. He was so elated to hear
of my desire to help him that he promised he would pay me back. Two weeks later, he called me up and said he
had a friend who owed him $300.00 and wanted to take me to his home to retrieve
the money in order to fulfill his word to me.
As a college student, I was delighted to have my money back. We jumped into my freshly washed and waxed
truck (the pride of my college days), with my chrome rims shining and pumping
stereo system blaring, and took off to a location that was foreign to me.
Now I have been sitting
on this porch for two hours, beginning to doubt the validity of this man’s
words to me. “Tony, when is your friend
going to be here?” “Soon, white boy”, he
responded as his friends chuckled. Thirty
minutes later, a purple grand marquis rolled into the driveway. I was grateful to see it pull in as I finally
thought I would be getting my money and be getting out of there.
The driver and two other
men stepped out of the car. The driver
pulled what appeared to be a .45 out of his waist line and tossed it on the
hood of the car. His passenger pulled
out an equally commanding hand gun and tossed it on the hood of the car.
“Man this car is great”
the driver said with pride. “We just
jacked it last night. It was tough
breaking into the trunk, but we finally got in.” I looked at the trunk lid and saw the drilled
out key hole and I knew these guys were not joking around.
Then came the
conversation that was my que to leave.
“Did you hear about the man Franky got last night?” I mentally flashed through all of the
definitions of what “got” meant as quickly as I could, as I was clearly
outnumbered and looking to be the next story these men told. “Yeah, he killed
that man with one shot.”
I turned to Tony and
said, “Merry Christmas, you just made yourself $300.00. I am going to take off.” “No, No Greg, don’t take off, your money is
coming.” “Tony, you got to be kidding
me, I’ve been here for three hours, my money is not coming, and I am starting
to see that there may be another reason for me being here.”
I got into my truck and
fired it up. As I was preparing to pull
out, four of the men surrounded the truck, with the owner of the .45 leaning
into the passenger window. “You got a
clean truck. Nice system, real nice
vehicle.” I quickly replied, “And I am
going to keep it that way.” I threw my shifter backwards into reverse, and took
off.
My mind plagued me as I
drove back down that gravel road without my $300.00. “How did I put myself into this
position? Why did I even help this man
out to begin with? It’s not like I am
rolling in money, and yet clearly this man can’t afford a home because of the
lifestyle he has chosen and the decisions he has made. Why did I throw my money away!”
Those thoughts plagued
me for a long time as I tried to reconcile my actions to my Christian
obligation to love and to make disciples.
The flaw in my thinking
at the time and in the thinking of many Christians I have spoken to, is the
thought that compassion for an individual is what ultimately drives the great commission. Although this is partly true, there is one
other thing that comes before my compassion for an individual that should drive
my evangelism, and that is to see the glory of God revealed in that person’s
life.
The problem with being
led solely by compassion is we will make decisions based upon a person’s
comfort level and therefore try to appease their physical estate in order to
show them love in hopes to soften their hearts to the Gospel. This is a very dangerous approach to making
disciples as this has the potential of removing some of the consequences of a person’s
sin from their life, thus removing the full weight of their sinful lifestyle.
Therefore our compassion enables them in their idolatrous lifestyle. The continued effect is, they no longer are
starving for the truth. They become that
much less receptive to hearing the Gospel and really soaking it in (although
they may “listen” to you to appease you as you are the bearer of some tangible
gift”). Romans 12 says to give basic
necessities to our enemies, food and water, it doesn’t say that we are
responsible for clothing, shelter, utility bills, and other commodities. We are not called as Christians to toss our
resources as a church or as individuals at the feet of those who will simply
consume them for fleshly desires. I
believe the church has thrown away too much money and resources already with
this approach to evangelism, that is, handing out free stuff to whomever
without consideration of what Scripture says on how we are to rightly use our
resources.
I made myself $300.00
poorer in order to give Tony 3 nights to enjoy what I later learned to be a
drug ridden, whoring lifestyle. For
three nights he did not have to think about providing a roof over his head or
if the mosquitoes were going to be out that evening, or if he would have to go
find some quick work to give him the comfort of a bed. For three nights, he didn’t have to face the
consequences of his sensual lifestyle; rather, he got to indulge in it a bit
more. I would have been much better off
feeding him a pbj sandwich and giving him a glass of water and talking with him
about life than just opening up my checkbook hoping that my wallet could soften
the heart of this man, a job that only the Holy Spirit can do.
Matthew 7:6 Do not give dogs what is holy, and
do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn
to attack you.
I have learned that
there is something more that the world needs than my compassion and that is
Jesus. Now, I ask the Holy Spirit to
guide me in how I am to physically help people, but also to show me the truth
of their situation in order for me to do my part in revealing the glory of God
into their lives.
Tony’s will show up in
our lives all the time, we don’t want to turn a cold shoulder to them, and we
don’t want to toss our pearls at their feet. Instead, let’s commit to be guided
by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in those moments to reveal the fullness
of God and His truth in their moments of desperation.