Life Is So Unfair To Many!

I just don't think it is fair! Life, that's what I don't think is fair. And it's not ever going to be.  We have spent the past two days in Memphis, TN.  The things I saw were just unfair, when it came to homeless people and the run down shacks lining the streets. 

Why are people homeless?  Is it bad decisions they've made? Is it because many are mentally ill? Or is it the conditions they were born into that they became this way? 

We decided to travel by foot on Beale street and as we were walking out a door from the parking garage it led to an alley. As we walked out the door I quickly shoved all of us back inside the door. The reason? There was a homeless guy lying on the cold ground asleep. It startled me and I didn't want to disturb him.  Maybe he was dreaming about the good times of the past when everything was great and he had hopes of a good life. Who knows? But I felt bad for him and wish I could've done something for him.  Seeing somebody lying on the cold ground is very unusual for us small town people here.  It will awaken something in you when you see it.  Today it awoke in me the idea of unfairness in life.

I often think at night when I am in a warm house and a warm bed about those that are not in such a situation.  Why me? Why did I get the good things and that person today got the bad side of life?  It's a question so few in this world ask.  We often think 24 hours a day about ourselves and how today will pan out for us.  Every person in the world thinks they all have it rough, yet for some people they do. If you have a job, a house, a car, food overflowing your pantry and at least $100 in the bank, you have  a lot!

In God's mind if you have all this yet have no compassion for the poor, you have nothing.   Why would he want us to give to people like this?  I mean the general idea we have of the homeless is that they are lazy drunks and drug addicts who don't deserve nothing because they don't do nothing.  I believe they have a different story to tell that would change our minds quick! Maybe some are lazy and put themselves in such a predicament, but it is not for us to be the judge of that.

Jesus teaches all over the place in the New Testament to be amongst the poor and the widows. He never teaches us to live life to be number one. To live life so we can have the largest of everything.  When it all comes to the end in life it will only matter if you believed and if you did something for the least of these. Jesus taught that the first will be last and the last will be first. Completely the opposite of what the world preaches to us daily.

When I hear of people needing prayer I often put them on my prayer list.  It sometimes bothers me when people ask for petty stuff to added to the prayer list.  Things like help me get through Med school or pray for a certain bill to be paid. You know that is petty! I've lately thought there are many other people that need more important prayers answered than silly things like that.  It's amazing to me how much we pray for petty stuff (myself included).  I always put sick people on my prayer list, because that is a dire need. I don't want people to suffer and I want to give that prayer to God for them. When it comes to silly stuff  I don't put them on there.

We give more attention to animals being abused than we do the homeless or little babies being aborted.  Our priorities are mixed up! How do we go about changing how we feel about the homeless?  I think we should start by opening our Bibles and looking at how Jesus treated the less fortunate.

He did it so the glory of God could be revealed. We have a lot of relearning to do about Jesus.  He's is completely different than what we were taught when we were little. The cross and the resurrection are probably the most important things we remember and heard about Jesus. But Jesus is soooo much more than that.  He was a compassionate person and a true giver of life. He was selfless and loved to be around people. He came to reteach the world of the story of God. He came to save sinners not the righteous of his day. He's amazing and as you read more about him he is different from any other person that ever walked the Earth.

What would Jesus had done if he were in my shoes that day I saw the guy lying on the street?  I believe he would have reached down and told the guy that he loved him and given him every hope in the world. Won't we do the same?