It’s easy to get caught up in the distractions of our own lives. We fret about bills, family, rising cost of gas…

Yet, as believers in Christ we should have our focus on the eternal. The older I get, the more I understand that the things of this life are temporal and passing away. One day, I will be passing away with it.

I’m not trying to be morbid, just realistic and focused on what is truly important.

One spiritual goal I set for myself this year is to be more outward focused. I tend to turn inward. I want to turn more outward – notice those around me, notice their struggles, their needs, their joys, their pains.

It’s easy to stay uninvolved in the lives of those around us. It’s easy to keep free of the mess. It’s easy (and convenient) to turn a blind eye and pretend we have no clue what is going on. It’s easy to make excuses as to why I can’t join in, why I can’t help.

And while it may be easy and convenient, it is certainly not biblical. (Ouch!)

I was reading the story of Peter, John, and the lame man in Acts 3:1-7. The lame man sat begging each day. He couldn’t work but he had to survive. He did what he knew to do – beg alms from others.

As Peter and John came by, the lame man did what he knew to do. He begged.

I believe we come in contact with people every single day that are doing what they know to do – living the way they know how. They are sitting outside our gates (our little private community, our known world and circle) and begging. They don’t know what they truly need, but they are asking for a handout.

They need their cup filled so they can go on another day. They are searching, and yet don’t even realize what they really need.

Just as Peter and John had the answer for the lame man, we have the answer those sitting outside our gates need. The lame man didn’t really need money to survive another day, he needed the intervention of Christ. And Peter and John offered it to him. It wasn’t what he was expecting, it wasn’t what he was asking for, but it most certainly was exactly what he needed.

The lost are really just lame men, women, boys, and girls, sitting outside the gates begging for intervention. Will you toss them an excuse? A coin of affirmation? A worldly opinion to solve their issue? Or will you offer them true life – eternal life – a life found only in Christ?

It’s time we started opening our eyes to the lame and offering them something lifelong and sustainable instead of another daily dose of alms that will run out. Offer Jesus. Offer hope. Offer a new beginning and a real life change. It’s not up to us whether they accept it or not, but it is up to us to offer it.

“…I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you…” Acts 3:6