What A Six Year Old Can Teach You About Christ.
Updated: Sep 11
This story is now over ten years old but worth telling again, for myself and for others.
For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, “You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.” - Deuteronomy 15:11
Last night on the way out of the Nats game, the exiting crowd, including my family, passed a homeless guy shaking a cup for change. He was less than ten feet away from me when we looked eyes. I saw him, he saw me, and I thought, "I should do something's for him," after all I know all the stories where Jesus helped those in need without concern or reservation. This ping-ponged in my mind as I, in a shameful and embarrassing act of which I have repented many times, lowered my head, increased my speed and lengthened my stride, and broke my eyes away from his glare. All I wanted at this point was to try to just get past the man. We were running late, low on cash, and needed to get home before it got too late. Three feet behind me was my, at that time, 6-year-old son, Chris. Chris also saw the man. Like me, he also recognized the man's need for help. Chris knew the same stories about Jesus helping those in need as I did, I actually taught them to him.
Chris made eye contact with the homeless man, lowered his head and broke eye contact with him, and increased his rate of walking and stride. There was a difference.
The difference was Chris looked away from the homeless guy to look at me; he sped up his walking to catch up to me. Chris was going to help; he wasn't worried about making the metro, looking silly, or if that last dollar was needed to hitch a ride back to New Carrollton. Chris was going to be Jesus, whether he knew it or not, to the homeless guy.
What a bad role model I was for him and for everyone on that street. I acted nothing like Jesus, and Chris knew it. Providently yet unexpectedly, Chris played the role of a good role model for me.
Watching this unfold, I saw and learned from this three-foot-two-inch warrior of the Kingdom. Two things became painfully clear and struck my heart hard, and I will never forget or cease or remind myself of.
1) My son is far more giving and loving than me; I envy him and have been inspired by him since that day. I have countless other stories about him like this. He is my hero, and I need to tell him more often. As a race, people are quick to slam each often using obscene levels of unmerciful force to do so. Why do we not offer encouragement as freely as criticism, and why do we break people with much more passion than we build them up with? These are good questions that I ask myself often.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9
2) Kindness spreads like wildfire. Everyone in front of us walked by this man, not giving his pain and suffering a second thought, but after Chris went back to put something inside his cup to jingle, everyone else started dropping coins in. The infectious power that resides in kindness as well as the power shown by this kid's compassion for that man was both inspiring and shocking. One kid with a hand full of quarters was all it only took to begin a tsunami of love and help from the crowd.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. - Ephesians 4:32
All it takes is the action of one person, even a small person, to start a movement. Love, kindness, generosity, and grace are infectious. They are like a yawning epidemic in a church that can't be stopped. You can't be near them and join in.
Moral of the story: Be cool to each other! Give recklessly when you can, and don't count the cost because we rarely see the ending of the story. Life is so much bigger than we know. Be the difference in someone's life today.
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ - Matthew 25:40
