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God called us to demonstrate His love through service (or ministry) and to communicate His Word through evangelism (or missions). Are we growing in this calling?
Look at the following short and honest letter: “I felt I should tell you a little bit of a story in hopes it might help someone else. Whenever I tell others about my rough road back to Christ from non-Christian relationships, the one question I am always asked is, ‘What would have helped make your road back a little easier?’ My answer is during my time of spiritual loneliness, if I had had a sister in Christ seek me out and tell me, ‘I’ve been there, I love you, and I can help you find your way back to Jesus,’ perhaps I could have been spared a lot more pain than having to discover the answers on my own. P.S. Jesus is never tolerant of sin, but always willing to forgive it. If my experience can help someone else, feel free to use this information.”
This is really an eye-opener. It reminds us that we need each other for spiritual growth. Whenever we are struggling to keep our heads above the water, we should seek out someone for help. We do not have to fight our spiritual battles on our own. Jesus has all the resources in His Church to minister to us. This reminder can also be applied to render help to non-Christians. In our ministries and missions to hurting people, we need therefore to open our eyes to see the faces of hurting people we meet every day. We need to look at them with the compassionate and missionary eyes of Jesus. Our real problem may not be that we are not willing to help hurting people in need. It is more often that we do not see people with hurts in the first place at all.
There are many hurting and desperate people in this world. We can find them everywhere. Just open our eyes. Better still, can ask God to open them for us. When we show people that we care, we will impact many lives for His kingdom. Our growth in His calling to serve others will mature. Matthew 14:14 tells us that “when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick”. He had compassion, reached out and ministered to them! Let us simply follow Jesus’ example.
