A few Christmases ago, my wife's family and I visited a seniors' residence to sing carols and bring some holiday cheer. However, if you've ever heard me sing before, you'll know that I was primarily responsible for holding doors and pushing elevator buttons.

We went to nearly every floor and sang, joked and prayed with many beautiful people. Some were bedridden and unable to spend the day with their families. Others seemed to be alone in the world—or, sadly, forgotten.

While walking down a hallway, I saw a woman staring at me through a partially open doorway. I smiled and wished her a merry Christmas. “Are you my son?” she asked.

“Pardon me?” I replied.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, she said: “Oh, you look the spitting image of my son. It's uncanny. I thought he had come to visit me. I haven't seen him in over a year and a half.”

“Does he live far away?” I asked.

“He lives in Brampton,” she replied.

I quickly calculated the distance in my head—a 30-minute drive from the residence. I wondered if she'd been looking for her son's face all day.

It's sad. Now, there may be a perfectly rational explanation for the son's absence. But there were a lot of lonely people in that residence. Who is visiting them? Who is befriending them?

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. In this small Child, born in a manger, we catch a glimpse of our loving God who chose to come to Earth and share life with us. As the Christ Child became a man, He revealed the heart of God as He befriended the lonely, the lost and the hurting.

Jesus wants us to continue His ministry: “I was hungry and you fed Me, I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink, I was homeless and you gave Me a room, I was shivering and you gave Me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to Me … I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was Me—you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:35-36,40 The Message).

This Christmas, let's not forget about those with whom Jesus identifies: the sick, the homeless, the elderly, the prisoner, the poor. When we reach out to them, we are serving Christ. If we truly are God's children, let's resemble Him in our thoughts, words and actions. And may none of us ever have to hear Him say: “Are you My child?”

John McAlister is senior editor for The Salvation Army's Editorial Department. From 2006-2008, he served in Zimbabwe with his wife, Rochelle. John and Rochelle have a baby boy named Kieran Tinashe.