The Power of Helping versus Being Helped
I have a new friend /
client who has a neat story about how he came to be a Christian. He was
an atheist for 38 years, and quite content. However, one day his
neighbor's five year old child was diagnosed with Leukemia. My friend
began volunteering to raise funds for the child's treatment. As he became
more involved, he says he took his eyes off himself for a moment, and was able
to see the hope all around him. As a result of his efforts, and the
relationships this developed, he became a Christian. Where he lives, he
could have gone his whole life without hearing a strong evangelistic message,
yet he was able to see through service the reality of God. How cool is
that.
Often times, when we think about those of our friends in need, whether physical or spiritual, we put them in the blanket, and try to get them in front of Jesus somehow. We see our role to bring this "crippled" person forward with the idea that he can be healed if we do so. Many times this does take place, when we see the obvious "injury" and see the need to help this person overcome it.
Where we miss out, though, is when we see a person who doesn't look or sound crippled yet we know they do not experience the joy of a relationship with Jesus. We cannot picture them in a blanket being lowered in front of Jesus, nor can we actually figuratively picture them in a blanket at all.
Consider another possibility. What if the four friends that carried the injured man were not all believers. What if only two or three were, but asked the non-believers to help, and they saw the importance of helping enough to agree to carry the blanket. Think of the impact on them from the experience of Jesus' healing of the paralytic on the blanket. Maybe you need to approach your friends differently. Get them to help you help someone else. Create a project to feed the homeless and take your friend with you. Help out a widow or orphan in your community and ask for help to do so. Perhaps by their joining you in caring for someone else, the same change will take place that affected my friend.
Hey, you have nothing to lose, and someone will gain, regardless of the impact on your own friend. Whoever is getting served will benefit.
Often times, when we think about those of our friends in need, whether physical or spiritual, we put them in the blanket, and try to get them in front of Jesus somehow. We see our role to bring this "crippled" person forward with the idea that he can be healed if we do so. Many times this does take place, when we see the obvious "injury" and see the need to help this person overcome it.
Where we miss out, though, is when we see a person who doesn't look or sound crippled yet we know they do not experience the joy of a relationship with Jesus. We cannot picture them in a blanket being lowered in front of Jesus, nor can we actually figuratively picture them in a blanket at all.
Consider another possibility. What if the four friends that carried the injured man were not all believers. What if only two or three were, but asked the non-believers to help, and they saw the importance of helping enough to agree to carry the blanket. Think of the impact on them from the experience of Jesus' healing of the paralytic on the blanket. Maybe you need to approach your friends differently. Get them to help you help someone else. Create a project to feed the homeless and take your friend with you. Help out a widow or orphan in your community and ask for help to do so. Perhaps by their joining you in caring for someone else, the same change will take place that affected my friend.
Hey, you have nothing to lose, and someone will gain, regardless of the impact on your own friend. Whoever is getting served will benefit.
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