God Loves Down-and-Outers

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 4
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I looked down at my dirty shoes and decided to go to the hotel’s shoe shine parlor. As I entered I noticed a Bible under one of the seats.
“Is that your Bible?” I asked the shoe shine man.
“Yes, sir, that’s my Bible,” he answered, picking it up and clasping it to his chest.
“Let me sit here while you polish my shoes and tell me your story,” I said.
He looked me right in the eye and asked, “Sir, do you believe in miracles?”
“I certainly do! Every one of us that’s saved is a miracle of God’s grace.”
“It’s sure a good thing you feel that way, sir, ’cause you’re looking at a miracle right this minute!”
“Please tell me about it.”
He began, “I was hungry! Was I ever hungry! And I was a no-good drunk. I’d left my wife and kids and spent the very last nickel I had, and I was hungry. I was sleeping in the bushes and scrounging every little bit of food I could. So one day I walked by this mission, and WOW, did it smell good! There was food cooking in there. The sign said ‘EVERYBODY WELCOME,’ so I opened the door and what did I see? A bunch of people all dressed nice! This is no place for me, I says to myself. I’m dirty and so are my clothes. So I slept in the bushes that night and the next night too, and I was so hungry.
“The next day I says to myself, Even if they are all clean and nice, I’m going to that mission! And do you know what those mission people did? They gave me a big hug and filled my tummy and told me that Jesus loves me. And now I’m just so happy ’cause Jesus saved my soul.
“Yep, nobody ever told me before that God loved this down-and-outer so much that He came down to this bad old earth so He could die to make my heart whiter than snow. That was the best news my ears ever heard!
“But I wanna tell you something else. I ain’t the only down-and-outer in that mission any more. I couldn’t keep that news to myself, that Jesus really does save sinners! So I went out and brought in as many homeless sinners as I could find, and now there’s a bunch of us in that mission with our hearts made whiter than snow!”
It doesn’t matter what kind of clothes you wear or even if you’re clean or dirty; everybody needs to have their heart washed white and clean. “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).
ML-10/18/1998