But Can You Help Them . . .?

But Can You Help Them . . .?

Our calling is to help one other and serve one another with all the goodness and wisdom that are in the body of Christ. By nature, we would like to correct people and straighten them out in order to avoid suffering as much as possible. “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” Gal. 6:1.

“Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” Rom. 15:14. It goes to show that, unless our hearts are filled with goodness, we will not be able to admonish, exhort or help others. But if there is blaming, accusation or demands in our hearts towards others, then their hearts will likely close up. Or there can also be the strength of man, which would fight in the name of righteousness. But a servant cannot demand anything—we are only to serve, and we need to go so far down that we get into people’s hearts. Then we can say just about anything we want, and it will be received.

When we think about God’s nature, we see that God is able to bear all wickedness and all sorts of foolishness without any problem. It goes to show that, as human beings, we need real spiritual power and grace from God to be able to suffer evil, without becoming evil ourselves. It is God’s intention that we should be able to endure and bear more and more as time goes by. “. . . for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matt. 5:45. What an abundant life, full of goodness from God, a life that has an incredible ability to bear things! “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Gal. 6:2-3. Just think how we have been called to bear one another’s burdens, one another’s natures, and one another’s behaviors without it being a problem for us. We all have a body of sin, but within the body of Christ, the love of Christ is to prevail, and that is a love that covers a multitude of sins.

Love endures all things, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. It never fails when it has the chance to win a soul, so that we are able to help them. The common thing is for our love to grow cold when lawlessness abounds. We feel that our circumstances justify our lack of the love of Christ. But if love does not reign in my heart, then I am nothing, no matter how much I am able to accomplish. How will we be able to help others if we are not able to bear them with joy, just as God bears us? How far are we willing to go? “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” Matt. 5:41. If we are willing to do this, then we are on our way to comprehending the width and length and depth of the love of Christ! The love of Christ compels us to lay down our lives for one another. What a glorious way to be compelled!

Paul saw himself as someone having a huge debt. “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.” Rom. 1:14. It’s amazing, that when we contemplate what we have been forgiven and how much we have been borne, that we tend to sink lower in our own eyes and don’t have so many demands on those we are meant to serve. We see that Paul did not forget the debt that he owed when he writes in 1 Cor. 9:19: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.” And in verse 22 he continues: “to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

He found his own antipathy and sympathy, his envy, his pride, his stubbornness, his honor-seeking, his impatience, his obstinacy, his ambitions, his lack of the love of Christ toward everyone etc., and put it to death so that he was able to serve them all. The love of Christ crushes all excuses and tears down all walls of partition so that Satan’s power is destroyed and those who love God can be set free!