Very recently, a close friend of mine and I were out shopping together. We set out in search of gag gifts for our upcoming Christmas parties, but what I ended up finding was a lesson I won’t soon forget. We had been discussing the nature of our Christian faith pretty much the entire time we were shopping, and one thing we always came back to was how the first thing any Christian is supposed to do is to love.

This is no ordinary love either, this is a Christ-like love, a love that’s unconditional and never failing, a love that is pretty much beyond comprehension. With those qualities, suddenly loving one another sounds a whole lot more difficult. In the back of my mind I always start to think that I’ve got the whole “love others” thing down. However, that very same shopping trip, God decided to show me through my friend an aspect of love I had forgotten.

While we were driving home from our shopping trip we pulled up next to a homeless gentleman who was asking for donations at our stop light. Now I’m from Memphis, Tennessee, which has its fair share of the impoverished and homeless so needless to say I’m quite used to the sight of someone asking for money at a red light. Being so accustomed to seeing this I did what most people normally do and ignored him.

My friend, he did the opposite. He pulled over and called the man to our window and kindly greeted him, he then explained that he didn’t have any cash to give him but what he did have was an unopened bottle of water in his glove compartment. “Here you go sir. I wish I could do more, but here’s what I’ve got.” He said. The man was extremely grateful and quickly went about his business.

I told my friend that the water bottle is a good idea to avoid giving him money that he could spend on alcohol or worse. He looked at me and said, “Actually if I had money I would have given it to him. It’s not my place to assume the man's spending habits. That’s between him and God. My place is to show that man love.” Immediately I felt so terrible for ignoring him, I had grown so used to seeing people like him that I had forgotten that they are just that, people.

The verse that comes to my mind is Matthew 25:40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” It’s a harsh truth, but what I forget all the time is that as a Christian it’s my responsibility to show the love of Christ wherever I go. That certainly includes the less fortunate, and a great way to show love to them is by helping out wherever I can. That could be through simple gifts of money, a meal, even some clothes or to something as simple as a water bottle -- any little bit helps.

If you come across someone in need of love, please show them some. Even if you’re not a Christian, remember that we’re all human, and we all need be shown some love and kindness from time to time. Unfortunately, there are millions who if we don’t show them kindness and love, no one will. So in the future, I hope you won’t be like me and ignore someone in need. Instead be more like my friend, with help to give and love to show.