As Christians, we are called to serve one another, even when it’s the most inconvenient! I was one of those who made up excuses on why I shouldn’t offer any kind of help.
A couple weeks ago, my friend and I attended a Bible study where we didn’t really know anybody except the leader. After prayer, one young lady, who just found out she was a couple months pregnant, piped up and said,
“This is very un-characteristic of me to even ask, but my back is bothering me and I am in so much pain! Can someone please come over to help me with my 3 year old son till after dinner?”
It was about 5pm and the room became quiet, a sense of annoyance and even the feeling of inconvenience filled the air, which was shameful because we just ended a Bible study. From what I recall, no one answered her cry for help while I was there, I even said, “I’m sorry and I hope your back feels better!” And that was it, that’s all I offered her! I know what everyone was thinking, because I thought the same things, like:
“How could she even possibly ask when it’s 5pm and I have to get the dinner ready before my husband gets home?” or
“Is she kidding? We have kids of our own to take care of, we all have multiple kids and she has one 3 year old and one on the way(how is she going to be able to handle that later?) that would be too much right now and besides, she is asking at the last minute! ”
Or “She doesn’t know me from atom, why would she want me to help her!” or
“It’s been such a trying week and all I want to do is go home!”
So goes on the lists of thoughts on why we couldn’t help her!
I write about this experience because when I left there, even though I knew I had to take care of my kids and make dinner, I didn’t really offer her any kind of help! She obviously was in a lot of pain because throughout the study, she let out a few grunts and got up a lot from her seat. As Christians, we are called to serve one another, even when it’s the most inconvenient! I was one of those who made up excuses of why I shouldn’t offer any kind of help. I even OVER-Spiritualized it by saying, “God, I would have known if you wanted me to help her because I would have felt it…I didn’t sense a leading, I didn’t have that tugging feeling!” BLAH BLAH BLAH!
My 5 minute drive home was like eternity because God just totally convicted me of my wrong thinking! I claim to know and love God, and I desire to serve others, but I MADE myself unavailable because I had preconceived ideas of this young lady and simply, just didn’t want to put the effort in helping her! I walk into the house and Chris was home. I shared with him how I felt and he didn’t offer any kind of consolation either and I didn’t really deserve it! I already knew in my heart that I was disobedient! I tracked down the lady who led the Bible study and got the name and number of the young lady to check on her.
One of the illustrations that night at Bible study was when Jesus was walking through a crowd and this lady with the issue of blood grabbed a hold of his tassels on his cloak. Jesus, turned around and said, “Who touched me?” His disciples were like, “Everyone is touching you!” Jesus explained to them that someone touched him because he felt power being let out. (Luke 8:41-55, May May’s paraphrased version) Jesus, not only does He ask who touched Him, But He stopped what He was doing and looked for the woman who touched Him so He could tend to her need! Throughout the time of Jesus here on earth, No matter how tired He could have been, He took the time to touch people!
I have been told this, “Treat each day as a gift of opportunity to touch people, whether it may be a physical or spiritual need.” I also have to admit that I don’t always look for such opportunities because I get caught up in my little world and for that, I ask God to forgive me! So let’s learn from this lesson, let’s all take the time to look around us and take time for people! How can we ask to have a heart like Christ and see people as Christ sees them when we don’t act like Him? Let’s not be one of those who come with 50 million excuses not to help when someone asks!
