As I turned off one of the main roads in my town the other day, I noticed something unusual in the parking lot of the grocery store. There’s a wide grassy strip in front of their parking lot where folks often put up signs announcing their yard sales or events.
That’s what was happening this day, but the sight in front of me was worthy of a double-take. A man in a suit was hammering the stake of a sign in the ground . . . and a homeless man was holding the sign while he hammered.
I was struck by how the two looked so polar opposite, one with a crisp navy suit, snowy white shirt and coordinated tie, and the other with tattered, mismatched clothing and uncombed hair waving wildly in the breeze.
And then the sheer humanity of the moment hit me. So many times we look at homeless people and all we see is homeless people, almost as if we don’t even notice them.
But on this day, I saw the kindness of a man who walked over to help someone while he hammered his sign into the ground.
The moment really touched me, and it was a fresh reminder to look beyond the outward appearance and see the person instead.
A friend and I had the privilege a few years ago to write the study guide to accompany International Evangelist Sammy Tippit’s book, The Prayer Factor. It’s an amazing book. That was evident from the first page when I read the dedication and it said, “To Titus, who taught me to weep for souls.”
Weeping for souls. Wow, what if more of us did that? Can you imagine the difference it would make in our world?
In one of the chapters, Sammy tells about sitting in large crowds at places like malls and airports and praying, “God, help me to see them like You do.”
Whew, that was convicting to me. Talk about a prayer that changes things! Suddenly–when seen through God’s eyes–that grouchy old lady down the street becomes a wounded soul who just needs someone to love her.
That rebellious teen with the crazy attire becomes a young man who’s crying out for someone to care.
That homeless person on the street becomes a real person, someone who needs compassion and a helping hand.
God, help me to see them like You do.
For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (I Samuel 16:7)
