I think that one of the most fulfilling things that we can do is helping others. Think of how good you feel when you do that. We can help friends or family with physical tasks, like moving or yard work. We can help by offering good advice or lending a shoulder to cry on. We can give financial or other material support. We can help others by holding the door open for them, giving up our seat on the bus, or reaching something off the top shelf at the grocery. We can volunteer to help organizations or causes by donating money or our time and energy. And each time we help someone, we get blessed.
People like to help the ‘less fortunate’. Who doesn’t want to help a child in the hospital, or a wounded warrior, or a homeless soul? These situations tug on our heartstrings. Charities thrive on this feeling. They afford an easy way for us to demonstrate our compassion and help people that we may not otherwise be able to help.
However, some people support charities because it is an easy way to do their ‘duty’. They write a check and go on their merry way because they have fulfilled their obligation. But this isn’t the kind of giving that comes from the heart of someone who truly wants to help people. Yet, whether the giving comes from the heart or simply out of obligation, there is a principle involved.
Helping is a form of giving. And the principle of giving and receiving works for us when we help others. Now, I’ve been taught that if you give, you will receive. But I didn’t really understand the greatness of that for a long time. The principle of giving is most often discussed in the context of tithing, and I understood it in that context. But the principle is not limited to that category, nor is it limited to money. We can give in a million ways and get blessed for all of them.
As Christians, our hearts lean toward helping people learn God’s Word so that they can be saved. But our help doesn’t stop there. We can help people understand God’s Word more perfectly so they can claim the promises that God has made to them and live the life that God has intended for them. We can help people get up after they fall. We can help people stay put on the Truth. We can help people grow. And we will get blessed for doing any of those things. But we don’t do it in order to get blessed. No! Our hearts are to help people. Therefore, we are fulfilled when they succeed.
But as noble as our motives are, we can’t even approach the heart of God when it comes to helping. Probably the most familiar scripture of all time is John 3:16.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God GAVE and what He gave is beyond our comprehension. And why did He give? Because He so loved the world! We love lots of people. Think about the person you love more than anyone. Would you give that person for a bunch of people who didn’t care one thing about you? Absolutely not! I wouldn’t do it for a bunch of people who liked me! But God so loved that He willingly gave; and what He gave, He gave to any and every person in the world. It says whosoever. God’s heart is to help every single person!
We can’t come close to God’s ability to help either. The Bible is full of examples of God helping people. God parted the Red Sea so Moses and the Israelites could escape from the Egyptians. Do you think that helped them?? In the time of Elisha when the Syrians besieged Samaria, God caused the Syrian army to hear the sounds of a great army of chariots and horses so that they fled for their lives. And when the lepers came to their camp, the army was gone but had left all their belongs behind. Do you think that helped the Samarians? God healed Naaman by having him wash in the river Jordan 7 times. I’d say that must have helped him! God’s ability to help is unlimited and His willingness is unrestrained. God is THE Giver. In Psalm 46, it says that God is “a very present help in trouble.” We can always, always, always count on God’s help. He is willing and able to help us in any and every situation we face.
God gave His only begotten son. And Jesus Christ gave his life willingly. What examples of unselfish love! We are to walk after the example that Jesus Christ left us. That doesn’t mean that we have to give our lives. It means that we are to live and give with the same unselfish heart of compassion and caring that he had. We strive to help because we know how much we have been helped.
Never underestimate the power of a smile or kind word to help someone. We never know who God might send across our path. We might help them change their lives forever!
Note to my readers. Thanks for reading! I hope this helped you. 😊