What Can I Do For Jesus?

 

       I read a post recently about responding to the question, “What do you want me to do for you?” that Jesus asked the blind man as he passed him by.  His response was that he could see. I suspect he was asking for his physical eyes to no longer have visual impairment, but could it have also been a spiritual request?

A friend of mine has been having a hard time with marital circumstances and even housing for herself and her children.  She has been asking God for help she says her eyes have been opened to what people can do, which isn’t always kind.  

As God’s children, we often place our requests before the Lord.  We ask for all kinds of things, like health, financial assistance, guidance and wisdom, to name just a few.  We are instructed to pray about everything, and because we are human, we often ask selfishly.  (Yes, I’m as guilty as anyone else!)

But someone else posed a different kind of answer, which set me back on my heels just a bit since it was quite profound, really.  What about responding with, ‘What can I do for YOU, JESUS?’  It’s so easy to get caught up in our own lives, we forget there are others who likely have needs greater than ours.

Yet, aren’t we, as Believers, supposed to take care of each other?  Certainly, the first church in the book of Acts did this.  They even brought goods (probably food- but maybe other items) daily to share with others in the community to make sure everyone had enough!  We have organizations set up, even within our own churches that are meant to help the ‘needy.’  This is a wonderful thing and I laud each community who does this.

But what would happen if we individually looked out for our neighbor, (even if we don’t know them well, or worse, didn’t get along with them!), our church family, along with our personal families who don’t live with us any longer?  Sometimes, even our immediate families are left to their own means, because we ‘expect’ them, since they’ve left home, to make it on their own.  

I’m not suggesting necessarily paying bills when people are deliberately setting out to be wasteful and expect someone else to pay it.  But stuff happens—even the COVID issues, which has been quite the hit in many family’s pocket!

As we age, being able to help someone becomes even more difficult because we don’t have the monetary means, or perhaps even the physical means of getting around as well as we used to.  In fact, we may be the one in ‘need.’  Does this mean, then, we are no longer responsible for ‘helping our neighbor?’  I think not.  There are still ways to help others.

Jesus wanted to know what the blind man wanted.  If Jesus asked you that same question, how would you answer?  Once you’ve figured that out, ask yourself the next question.  “What does Jesus want me to do for him?”

When we answer these questions honestly, it should tell us where our hearts are. 

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves

      My memories of fourth grade in elementary school, brings about mixed emotions.  Our family was very poor, but we were a family of faith.  My sister and I were taught to share our belief with everyone, and this included with friends at school.  There was a day, in gym class, I will never forget.  

I don’t remember what precipitated the conversation.  It could have been how I was dressed, the shoes I wore, or any number of things.  But my response to the unkind remarks about whatever it was, included, “God will take care of me.”  The comment following has remained with me, even as a visual of the event in my mind.  One of the five or six girls, who were surrounding me said, “God helps those who help themselves!”

There is no memory of what happened next.  It stops there.  I suppose it made me wonder if our family wasn’t doing enough to bring us into economic materialist wealth. It as easily, could have been something else.  Regardless, material wealth never happened.  But recently, there was a conversation about the use of this particular expression.

A teacher was explaining that she had worked in a Second Language environment to college-age students.  They were working with pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.) and students had to fill in the blanks with the correct word in their workbook.  One student, after class, came up to her, questioning one of the sentences.  “God helps those who help______.”   The teacher explained to the student before her, that this is a very common expression used by, or at least heard by, people in the United States.  Confidently she said, “The answer is “themselves.”   

The student’s response rocked the instructor, as it did me! He said: “Oh, I thought God helps those who helps others.”  Apparently, there is some credence to the expression, according to some ministers, who cite, 2 Thessalonians 3:10 or James 4:8, for validation.  But consider the idea that “God helps those who cannot help themselves,’ as suggested by the student.  This is where God’s Grace comes in.  The expression might be more of a proverb, than an actual Biblical truth.

We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves.  When we love someone, we care for them-- and care can be manifested in a variety of forms.  It may be a physical need we are caring for, if a loved one is ill.  For a neighbor in close proximity, it may be taking meals, or offering transportation somewhere.  For a stranger, it may be impractical for a ‘physical’ helping, although offering a gift card for food would be a wonderful way to help—and there are many other ways of ‘serving’ that help others.  

But love can also be demonstrated through small kindnesses to a stranger by offering a seat on a bus or train, a smile or kind word, carrying groceries for the elderly, letting someone go before you in line, paying for a coffee, or groceries, and list can go on and on.  These acts of kindness are acts of love like God instructed us to do—in an effort, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, body and strength, while we love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Fulfilling My Destiny

   

      God has a way of getting our attention.  When we recognize Him as Lord and Savior, our plans change as our lives take on new meaning and direction.  I remember in ninth grade thinking I’d like to become a teacher.  But then I realized that would require college, and since we had no money, college would likely not be an option.  It never occurred to me that I might have been able to attend on a scholarship!  I’m not certain I even knew what a scholarship was.  As it was, I was the first in my family to even graduate from high school!

          As my high school years continued, I altered from teaching to a business track.  That could be accomplished by doing well in classes, and while a business degree would have raised my starting pay, I figured high school with good grades would be enough.

Those plans changed again when I met my ‘now’ husband.  Instead of going to work, I got married, and had children.  Even so, I had always been a ‘writer of something!’  I was a journal keeper and kept diaries even for my little ones (Only the first three. After that, time was such a precious commodity, the next two didn’t fare so well!) so they could see a glimpse of what their childhood was like. 

Imagine my surprise when my last child was born, that I decided to begin writing ‘for real!’  I’ve tried to decide what my starting point was; and there are moments in the files of my memory, that give me a clue it wasn’t as sudden an idea, as it seems.

God laid the groundwork for my life before I was even born.  I had choices, however, and possibly (maybe even probably) took the ‘scenic route’ to get to where God wanted me.  As I cast glances back over my life, especially when I was younger, I wonder if I could have begun writing sooner, rather than later—in my mid thirties.  Yet, it’s because of my life’s experiences I am able to write with heart.  That’s not to suggest writers shouldn’t begin early.  But sometimes there are those of us who don’t recognize God’s tugging toward his ‘blueprints’ right away.  

I read an article recently about reaching for the destiny God has designed for us.  God absolutely has a plan.  Not only must we recognize it and then choose it, we also must understand that his plan is not for us alone.  While writing seems like a very solitary and sometimes private journey, the words put on paper aren’t just for me.  They are for everyone who reads them and then listens to what God wants them to know.  Even though the words are the same for every reader, the meaning can be quite different.

This isn’t just true of writing.  It’s true for every destiny of ministry God gives us.  We are placed here for a purpose; a purpose only we can fulfill.  God gives us the wisdom to touch people’s lives, even if only for a moment—and sometimes even when we aren’t aware.

I encourage you, to recognize the road God is calling you toward –and follow.  It may well be out of your comfort zone, and the last thing you expected.  Trust him to use that calling to be the witness he wants you to be.  You will be blessing others, just as he will bless you.

It Is Well With My Soul

  Music, especially Gospel music, feeds the soul like nothing else.  It can make a person cry, dance, laugh, recall a special memory, and help us worship in ways beyond imagination!

        I have many favorites; songs that I love and touch my heart, in ways indescribable.  I’m not sure which affects me more, the lyrics or the music.  Sometimes it can be one or the other or both.  It can depend on the weather, my mood, my location or even the circumstances I am facing.

There are scores of songs by the Kingdom Heirs (my absolutely favorite Southern Gospel group) that I love, but one remains my absolute favorite: “The Empty Grave Says It All.”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkrj23jbpk   The visuals and emotions this song draws out of me, are intense.  I become overwhelmed with tremendous joy and inexpressible reverence and adoration for a God who gave us Jesus to become my Lord and Savior.  I can picture the empty tomb and my heart is filled to overflowing!

Other songs that touch me include, “Jerusalem,” “Crown Him With Many Crowns,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Amazing Grace, (My Chains Are Gone),” “Lord Reign In Me,” and on and on!  I LOVE Gospel music; the old Hymns and the newer contemporary songs!  

The song however, that probably has had the biggest impact on me, however, is, “It Is Well With My Soul,” written by Horatio Spafford.  I’d always loved the song, but one Sunday, the person singing the song shared the history behind the lyrics.  I was moved to tears;  tears that wouldn’t stop.  For weeks afterward, when the song came to mind, I’d tear up.  When the music began in church several times during the months that followed, I was totally unable to sing.  All I could do was cry!  The words would not come.  

Perhaps you’ve never heard the story behind why these words were penned.  Horatio Spafford was a successful business man in Chicago.  He lost his fortune in the great fire of Chicago in 1871; and lost his young four-year old son to scarlet fever.  In an effort to escape the agonies they were facing, the family chose to take a trip to England.  His work would delay him and it was decided he’d join his wife and four daughters when he finished.  During the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean a horrific ship collision cost 200 people their lives; four of which included his daughters.  His wife survived and sent a telegram to her husband as soon as she landed.  He, of course, boarded ship and started the trip over, and as they passed over the spot where the collision happened, he penned the words to the now infamous song, “It Is Well With My Soul.”

  For more about this event visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Well_with_My_Soul 

The words he wrote gave him comfort as he trusted a Sovereign God.  We can learn much about courage and trust from this man of faith.  I can’t imagine enduring such loss and still able to see a glimmer of sunshine, through the darkness. God is Sovereign, no matter what! 

 Photo Credit:  https://pixabay.com/images/search/musical%20notes/