So a man approached me at a gas station close to the school I work at the other day. He was pretty-big, African American, wearing baggy clothes, and he mumbled when he talked. He was asking people for a ride to a Lowe’s hardware store that was about a mile away. Pretty much reflexively, I found a reason to not give him a ride.

On my way home, I found myself thinking about James 4:17. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Of course, this dovetails right into Matthew 25:45.”Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do [good] to one of the least of these, you did not do [good] to Me.'”

In this case, did I fail to help a fellow man in need as a result of paranoia and prejudice (not so much racial prejudice as much as just him being a man wandering around a gas station alone looking to get into someone else’s car)? Did my fear overcome my faith, or am I being too hard on myself?