My Life As A Cynic

I've been in ministry for 11 years. In that time, I have taken my fair share of benevolence cases, most of them on the spot, with little to no prep time. And in that time, I'm pretty sure I've been taken advantage of more often than not. I'm not complaining, necessarily. I'm merely stating fact. There are people out there who are looking for easy targets. They prey on churches and church people. Some go from church to church until they find one (or several) that will support them. And every time you get burned, something happens to you that only God can fix. Heck, if God's Spirit wasn't working on me 24/7, I would be a bitter man right now. I probably would have already left the church and everything in it. I know as a follower of Christ that my duty is to help people. The problem is that scammers know that too. Many of them know all the right things to say to garner sympathy.

In the time that I have been working in ministry and helping people through that venue, I remember the ones specifically that I know took me for a ride. I do that, not to use that as a reason for not helping someone, but for the motivation I need to recognize that these instances can't stop me from being what Jesus has called me to be. It would be so easy to give up on humanity, especially when you have guys like Jonathan, who came into my life (and office) one weekday with his pregnant girlfriend. Yeah, he took me for a ride. I vouched for him. I begged our benevolence group to help him. And it bit me. Hard. Each time gets harder, because you look in the mirror and hate yourself for being so gullible, for trying to be Jesus for people. There was this dude in Pensacola. His name was Chuck. Ok, I'm going to stop there. I still can't talk about Chuck. Let's just say Chuck took me for a ride. Boy, did he ever.

So it happens a lot. And I remember the ones who burned me. But the one thing I cannot do is allow that to jade me. I can't stop helping someone based on what someone else did to me. Jesus knew there were people following him because he fed them. They weren't looking for answers. They were looking to have their bellies filled. And so this morning, along comes Craig. And once again, I got suckered. Or let's just say I listened to him. I bought his story. I walked into M'Liz's office and asked her if we could help him. And we did. And I'm proud of that. After the mistakes I've made and the errors in humanity I have committed, these folks around here are still willing to listen to me when I go out on a limb for someone. Do M'Liz or Bobby believe this guy is a phony? Possibly. Do I believe he's telling the truth? No . . . ok, that's not true. I am still looking for someone genuine. And I'm still willing to give the benefit of the doubt. But regardless of any doubts any of us may have, we still helped him. And we will continue to do that until our Creator comes back to fetch us. Why? Because that's what we do. That's what He did.

I say this not to proclaim myself to be a saint or closer to Jesus than anyone else out there. I say that because every day presents opportunities. What we do with those opportunities say a lot about who is living in us and ruling our hearts. I'm asking God to live there, so I have to be willing to take some shots. But I also have to keep reminding myself that when I do something for someone in need, I'm doing it for Jesus.