Wednesday, October 26, 2016

We Need To Help Others, Just Like Jesus Did

My Utmost For His Highest
 
Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21
 
“The great controlling factor [in our serving] is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. […] The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.  […]  the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all [service] is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).”  CHAMBERS
 
In the face of the great needs in Haiti after the Hurricane, the struggle, the challenge, is to be clear in what exactly we are to do.  Reading some of the many posts on Facebook about Haiti, I noticed one in particular.  The point being made was that it is OK to help people but you should not make them listen to the Gospel to get a bag of rice. Think about that.  That is the epitome of the natural man’s understanding.  Our faith is nothing more than a philosophy and we should not take advantage of a person’s plight to promote a philosophy.  Philosophy is “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence”. 
 
When Jesus met the woman at the well, she had need of water, Jesus offered her something eternal, a new reality. (John 4)  When Peter and John met the lame beggar at the gate (Acts 3), he wanted money .. they offered him eternal life by faith in Jesus.  Matthew 25 says that we are to help people that need help.  But we are also told that while we are going (Matthew 28), while we are serving, while we are living out our lives, we are to make disciples.  The two go together.  The person who wrote about our not sharing the Gospel as we help others is struggling with the reality of Jesus.  The person does not understand that we cannot make someone believe the Truth, but we must share the Truth. We certainly would not withhold help until someone made a profession of faith.  But just as certainly we will tell everyone we meet about the One who sent us.  Jesus has shown us the way … "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21.  We need to be found faithful in our going.  ELGIN

No comments: