Helping Others

^{Matthew 22: 37} Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[c] 38}This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[d] 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Two weeks ago tonight I started writing a blog that had come from thoughts I had during a previous day's Sunday School class. That night while doing so I found out my wife was in an accident going to get pizza after she wasn't happy with the way her dinner turned out. Before she left I had the feeling I should go and let her stay home, I just didn't feel at rest with her leaving. I did, however, let her go as it was her that wanted the extra food and I felt it would give me time to write down my thoughts. Thinking back that was very ironic since that blog was about helping others and not worrying about your own needs.

There is a lot of passages in the Bible about helping others. It goes so far as to say that if someone steals from you don't bother with trying to get it back:

^{Luke 6:29} If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

The questions that got me thinking in Sunday School that morning was something of the idea of Why is it good to take care of others and not worry so much about yourself? and Why should we give more than we take?

The first question got me thinking of a small community. In my mind I was thinking of five people. If all five people take care of themselves, how many people are taking care of each person? The answer is one, the only person taking care of each person is themselves. On the other hand if each person is taking care of the other four people, then each person has four people taking care of them plus they have themselves helping. This idea is expressed many times in the Bible, most notably in my mind are the times when it talks about the gifts of the Spirit.

^{1Corinthians 12:4} There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. ⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ...¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ...¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

So now when you think of it in these terms it is easier to see why we need to help each other. God clearly did not give us all the gifts/abilities to take care of ourselves. We need the community that God has given to us. Even in the very beginning of the Bible God clearly gives Adam a helper. Sure God could have done everything for Adam, but he made us a communal creature meant to help each other.

Too often I think people feel that God can only help through miracles and that other people are just humans that have absolutely no ability to help no matter how well intentioned they may be. We so often forget that just because I don't have the ability to help myself doesn't mean the community that God made me a part of couldn't help. It is easier to think of getting help from other's in our community when it is an extreme case. For instance when Andrea was in her accident she was going to know that the police, EMTs, my parents, and myself would be there to help. These are even common things she knew before the wreck; the people that she couldn't know would be willing to help was the man who stopped to check on her and the driver of the other car and directed traffic with his own flashlight.

That is how our Christian community is too, we often can think of people for extreme cases in the church. The common ones may be Pastors, Deacons, Sunday School teachers. As important as these roles are, they are just small parts of our Christian community. The more you yourself help with the community, the more you will see the others that help you.

If we found ourselves listening to this advice of helping others given so often by Jesus, then maybe we would find our prayers less of a shopping list of things we need and more as a list of blessings and thankfulness.

So this answers why we need to help each other, but what about the next question? Why is it better to give more than we take? Wouldn't it be good to accumulate what others give us? I think the more we accumulate the less we depend on God. When the Israelites where wandering in the desert they were told to collect only enough food for a single day and enough for two days the day before the sabbath.

^{Exodus 16:17} The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

This made sure they were depending on God for day-to-day provisions. The more we accumulate the less we think we need from others, the less we need the less we tend to think others need. How often do we worry about fixing/replacing the broken 3rd television in our house over making sure that our friends and family can pay their bills? If they can't pay their bills, how often do we think "that is their fault... I wouldn't find myself in that mess."

^{Deuteronomy 8:10} When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ... ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

If we could remember to depend on God more for our daily needs, then we wouldn't mind giving up our excess to provide for our neighbors' daily needs.