When my patient walked in, I immediately noticed his t-shirt and hat. His hat said “Jesus” and his t-shirt said, “Jesus is the STANDARD,” and he wore a silver cross around his neck. Both his shirt and hat were dirty; his belongings were also dirty, so I assumed he was homeless. He was a very nice man, in his late 70’s. When I brought him back to the exam room to prepare him to see the doctor, I couldn’t help but turn my nose up at the smell exuding from him. But as I stood over him, I looked down at him and right then, the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance Matthew 35-40. Jesus identifies with the least of us. That means people who are sick, living in poverty, homeless, disabled, and anyone else who is needy. He says when we do for those people, we do for HIM. So if Jesus Himself says He is no different from those people who are the least of us, who am I to have my nose turned up?? I was immediately convicted and straightened my face, despite the smell and continued serving him, all the while pretending I was working on Jesus. As I was doing an EKG on him, I looked him over again- at his long dingy t-shirt and black pants that were almost gray, and his worn out sandals. I wonder if this was how Jesus’ clothes looked, I thought. Thinking about how much Jesus traveled, I’m sure his sandals were worn and that he wore his clothes for days at a time. And just like people today turn their noses up at people like my patient, people probably turned their noses up at Jesus as well. My patient had Jesus all over him, literally. From it being written on his clothes to his humble personality. While I was only with this man for about 10 minutes, that short time was an eye opening experience. I was no better than him just because my clothes were clean. At the end of the day, none of that matters anyway. What matters is the condition of our hearts. Although this man was poor, he was richer a lot of people as his words and attitude made known his true heart for God.
***UPDATE: It turns out this man is a missionary. He travels around the country spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lives out of his truck. Wow
Love, Mizz K ♥ 