Outside-In
Will you willingly do God's will and develop the lifestyle of helping those in need?
“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry...Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people...Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats...You are to be my holy people."
Exodus 22:22-23, 28-29, 31
We live in a world with varying social classes. In the United States, the gaps between the haves and have nots is increasing. God's original design for how we live in community is always centered in connection, compassion, and caring for others.
God is calling you to a life of holiness and helping others. How have you found that serving and giving grows your relationship with God?
“May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor. For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death."
Psalms 72:1-2, 4, 12-13, 18-19
Developing a heart for those who experience suffering is part of the journey of holiness. God teaches His people that helping those on the margins helps develop our own inner spiritual strength. He teaches us outside-in living.
God hears the cry of those in need then looks for people willing to become His hands and feet to bring help to the hurting. Who could you help today? Do you have extra food you could donate to the hungry? A word of encouragement for the lonely? A prayer you could lift for those in need of healing?
“A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered. Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor."
Proverbs 21:2-3, 13, 21, 30
We live in a performance world that thrives on checking boxes and accomplishing tasks. Following Jesus can become routine and we can fall into patterns that blind us to the need around us. Going to church and giving are good.
Wisdom tells us that having a heart that longs to help others is greater than our ritualistic giving. Both are important, but God cares most about responsive hearts that love others like He does.
“Who will listen to me?...Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it."
Jeremiah 6:6, 10, 13, 16, 27
What keeps us from walking in the ways of Jesus? What keeps us from putting others first? At the core of each hesitation is a fear we have learned that keeps us from being obedient to trusting God.
“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked...Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life."
John 5:2, 5-11, 24, 39-40
Jesus is the model of a life dedicated to doing God's will by loving others with His life. In this story, Jesus encounters a man who is poor, in pain, without peace, lacking purpose, and with a poor plan for how to get better. What does Jesus ask him? Do you want to get well. The man has no context for finding healing apart from what he has learned from the culture he grew up in. He thinks it is a race to the water that he will never win so he has no hope in his heart.
What does Jesus do? He invites him to a life of healing. The man has to choose to believe in the authority of Jesus and respond by getting up. He is healed and still goes through a process of finding healing in his mind for how to live out the new life he has been given.
We can ask ourselves what would Jesus do today. What does He do? He heals us so that we can become healing to others. He loves us so that we can in turn love others. The call today is a call to respond to His great love by learning to live out our inside transformation by gaining eyes to see those on the outside. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ in me. What does Christ do? He brings love to a world in need. What should I do? The same.