There's a tendency for all of us to go after the strongest, the most powerful, and the ones with money. That is what we do, by default. When we hire someone to work for us, we pick the best, most adequate person for the job. If we want a babysitter, we pick the one we trust most, and who has the best qualifications. Those things are fine to do, when looking for someone to hire to do a job, but we carry that kind of thinking into the church as well.
Many people really struggle with trying hard to please God. It seems that, even though we understand the Gospel and know of God's grace, we still try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and bring something to the table to give to God. Why so we think so much like that? If we really understood the issue, we would understand that the only thing we can bring to God is our sin. And He has taken care of that through the Cross. I wonder if we also apply that thinking to others who come to us.
But maybe you are like me. I have a tendency to think that people who are poor, for example, aren't really aware of what's going on. I sadly, have thought of people who are slow to respond, as if they were kind of like robots. But really, many times, just the opposite is true. The people who are disadvantaged or weak, have very deep feelings and emotions. God forgive us for thinking wrongly about them.
We have a 'weak' man who has been coming to church. He follows us around like a puppy dog. I am impressed of how many people have taken an interest in this man. A few weeks ago, he wanted to know how to be saved. He dealt with guilt over some of the things he had done. Now he wants to come to a care group. We try to arrange for people to sit with him in church while we are not able to be there. This is a great opportunity for us to 'be' the church. This man will probably never be a pastor. He will probably never be on the streets sharing the Gospel. He will probably never write an article to be put in a magazine or blog. But he has a soul, and he is created in God's image. That is enough reason to serve him. We have no guarantee that he will be with us very long.
Sadly, someone did make a derogatory remark about him. It was disappointing to hear that, and I hope we can learn to be compassionate to others who come into our midst who aren't as fortunate as we are. At the same time though, I am very encouraged to find out how many have already ministered to, and are serving this man.
One observation I have also, is that when such a person comes into a church, you can tell, right away, the people who are gifted with mercy, or have compassion. Those are usually the people who gather around men or women, such as this newcomer.
Some of our 'weakest' are our children. I don't know about you, but I know how I have overlooked children many times. Children are so cute, but when we adults are together for the serious work in the church, I practically ignore the children. I want to change in that area. They might be small, but they will remember how they were treated when they were in church, by others. We don't want them to be a statistic of the 90% of those raised in the church who leave the church when they become adults. Can we be more intentional in reaching out to our children?
"At the same time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the middle of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Unless you are converted, and become as little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever shall receive one such little child in my name receives me. But whoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hung around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:1-6
Finally, there was a guy who had a hard life, and ended up being a tattoo maker. He saw a lot of flakiness in the church, but he does remember the lady who taught Sunday School, I think, who gave him a birthday party when he was four. He did remember that and I can tell that it ministered to his soul, even though everything else he saw in Christianity was unreal. That Sunday School teacher was wise. She regarded a little boy who was hurting and ministered to him. She was acknowledging that this little boy was created in God's image and would need to have a Savior to redeem him from his sins. This was on the Truth Project videos, with Del Tackett, if anyone is interested in watching them. They are excellent videos.
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