Finding Jesus in the Loop
Jun.25,2013
http://getmorestrength.org
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40
My friend Craig Phillips was a 27-year-old rising star in
Chicago’s corporate world. His natural drive and determination landed
him a premium position at a Fortune 500 company in the Loop—Chicago’s
business district. Early in his career, he encountered Jesus on the way
to work.
In his own words, Craig says, “One morning I was on my way to my
beautiful corporate office with my nice clothes and my nice tie on and
my expensive shoes, and I walked by this alley and saw this broken man
lying underneath an elevator vent where the hot air was coming out for
some warmth.” Chicago, like most metropolitan centers, is a curious mix
of the very elite and the very poor, so Craig had encountered poverty
and brokenness every day on the way to work. But this time, something
stopped him in his tracks.
“I couldn’t go any further,” Craig continues. “I turned around and
walked back in the alley. I went up to that man and asked, ‘Is that you,
Jesus?’ I knew it wasn’t Jesus, but I knew that that is where Jesus
would be.”
That encounter transformed Craig’s understanding of what it meant to
walk with Jesus, freeing him from materialism and focusing him on the
eternal. It sparked a life of service to Jesus, leading Craig to found
two churches and compelling him for decades to volunteer at the Wayside
Cross Mission in the suburbs of Chicago.
He had discovered a truth that, quite frankly, we can only realize if we take the instruction given in Matthew 25:31-46
seriously. In profound, yet simple words, Jesus tells His disciples
that in their service to the broken and marginalized—the hungry, the
imprisoned, the sick, and the naked—they will encounter Him.
Think about that. The moment a lovingly prepared sandwich or cup of hot
soup is passed to a homeless person in Christ’s name, the service is
rendered to Jesus Himself!
If we could grasp this truth, I think it would radically reconfigure
the way we view opportunities for service. When we see the stranded
motorist with a flat tire, we would ask the question Craig asked, “Is
that you, Jesus?” Or to the single parent in our neighborhood who needs
some assistance with childcare we would say, “Is that you, Jesus?” The
individual who is physically ravaged and socially isolated by AIDS would
hear us ask, “Is that you, Jesus?” Service in the name of Christ no
longer is a duty to be checked off our spiritual task list. It is an
opportunity to encounter and minister to our Savior!
By the way, Craig is in his late eighties and still volunteers
regularly with the Wayside Cross Mission in the southwest suburbs of
Chicago. I hear from him regularly, and in a recent letter he reminded
me all over again that our call to know Christ through service has no
time limit or expiry date. “Love causes us to have no bars and no
exclusions when we see someone hurting,” he wrote.
It’s something that Craig discovered in the Loop one day and has been
living out ever since. Jesus is ready and waiting all around us. All we
need to do is stop in our tracks, reach out, and serve in His name.
YOUR JOURNEY…
- What needs were brought to mind as you thought about Matthew 25:1-46 today? Take a few minutes to write them down.
- Look back over the list of needs. How does seeing each of those needs as an opportunity to encounter Christ transform your attitude about service?
- Focus on at least one of those needs. In prayer, commit to following through on addressing that situation as a ministry to Christ in the next week.
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