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Last night my wife and I went into downtown Nashville for a Tuesday night church service under the Jefferson Street bridge with the homeless. This is a weekly outreach that provides a hot meal, worship, a message, groceries and other items the homeless are in need of. The Bridge Ministry has been doing this every Tuesday night since 2004.
From week to week they may have as few as a couple hundred to as many as several thousand people come through the line. Of course this couldn’t be done without donations and volunteers. Last night was cold. The weather report said we might get snow before the night was over, and the wind was really blowing. My role was to help people get their food and find a seat, then later I helped behind the line with distribution of clothes.
This was my first time helping out this great ministry. After the meal was served we had the chance to talk with a young couple. We were able to help meet some of their physical needs, and we were able to pray with them. I’m still learning about how I can be the Christian God wants me to be, about how I can be Jesus to those around me, and how I can be transformed into the image of Christ.
We look at the work Jesus did on this earth, walking around doing good. And we see who he talked to and who he interacted with: religious leaders, lawyers, tax collectors, Romans, outcasts of society, lepers, prostitutes, the rich and the poor. When we see him declaring the Kingdom of God has come, must we model our lives after him if we too want to see His Kingdom come in our lives?
I drive by the homeless and those in need every day. And most days I don’t stop. I’m too busy. It’s too cold. Traffic is too heavy. I’ve got someplace to be. I don’t know what I would say. I don’t have any cash. The excuses can go on and on, and they usually do. But that doesn’t make it right.
Jesus said, “he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:12-13). And the Son is glorified through us.
Are you brining the kingdom when you come?