Exposing The Lie

Last week we gave our left-over pizza to a homeless man on a street corner. His face was bloodied--did he fall or did someone beat him up? I don't know, but a couple of pieces of pizza and a quick, "God bless!" won't help him much.

So how do we help? How do we expose The Lie that this man and many others like him may believe--that they are worthless, unloved and unable to be of any value to this world--that no one cares about them--that everyone has written them off including parents, siblings and friends--that they are the refuse of society?

From what I have learned over the past few years, most people who live on the street are very intelligent and highly creative. They would have much to offer if only they could get free from The Lie. How do we convince them of their value--that they do have something to offer--that even if parents, siblings and friends have written them off, God hasn't?! How do we do more than offer them our left-overs when we're so stuffed (again!) that we can't eat another bite? How can we show them the love of Christ without enabling their self-destructive behavior? These are not rhetorical questions. I really want to know and I'm really asking God.

My life has been sheltered and far from the world of poverty and homelessness. But now, every time I see a person on the street, a drug addict or alcoholic, I don't just see a homeless person. I see somebody's child, somebody's sibling, perhaps even somebody's father or mother. But they've lost everything including those relationships. They've traded it all in for a life on the street because of The Lie.

God, please tell me--how can we expose The Lie? How can I share My Unswerving Hope to someone is such a hopeless situation?