Cynical, Jaded, or Realistic?

This afternoon I got a call from a guy needing money for a hotel room for a night because the housing agency he was working with needed one more day to find a place for him and his two kids. The first thing that came to my mind as I was talking to him was, "Is this guy trying to scam me?" Now in my defense, that kind of thing is commonplace here in the metro area, but it got me thinking. I wonder if Jesus would have called the police department to find out if they knew anything about the guy. I suppose Jesus already would have known everything about the guy, like that a different church had filed a report about him 2 weeks ago and that he had spent a few days in jail because of the warrant that had been out for his arrest...but I don't think that Jesus would have automatically jumped to "scam" and would have first jumped to "love, compassion, grace, mercy." This all just shows how much my mind and my initial responses to the events of my life are still so conditioned by the world and my own sinful nature, and how far I still am from having the mind of Christ.

Interestingly, I called the guy back at the hotel and told him what I had discovered and then told him that I would need to talk with someone from the housing agency to verify his story before I could help him. He gave me the name and number and she backed it all up, so he was legitimately in need of help after all. So I arranged for the room to be paid for another night and offered to help his family move when they get the apartment situation figured out. He was really appreciative and is going to take me up on it, and hopefully we'll be able to bless the family even more as they get settled into town. Or maybe he'll bless me.