Helping those in need....

 Galatians 6:2 :Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ

Dear reader,

What's our daily thought usually about? Please, have you ever asked yourself what you can do to help someone who is in need today? How often do you set something aside to bless a needy person?

I know throughout the day, we are all enchained with many prevalent issues of life such that we forget to think outside our scope. We know we can't avoid the many incessant bills lying in wait for us. Many of us therefore fail to realize that we been commissioned by Jesus to help those in need.
There are so many people  who are experiencing a form of hardship and need help. Though there are network of agencies and organizations, both public and private which partially cater for the needs of these people, nevertheless there still exist poor people in all corners of society.

 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land (Deuteronomy 15:11). The Bible makes it clear that poverty will continue to exist in our world. Therefore we should show brotherly love to those who are in need.

Someone might argue that they are not better off to help another person. It's true. You have every right to say that or believe that but we must also realize that helping those in need doesn't necessarily require one to be wealthy in order to be a candidate. Helping the poor should be a genuine intent and also from our hearts. Helping a friend or stranger could be in the form of encouragement, in the form of prayer, in the form of giving financial or material assistance, advice, words of comfort and being compassionate. There are people we know or have heard about and even don't know who need our help. We should ask ourselves this question; "how can I be of help to someone today?"

Doing good to someone is like doing good to God. In Matthew 25:35-45, Jesus tells us to help those in need. He commands us to clothe those who are naked, visit  sick people in hospitals and in prison.This is part of our call as children of God. Jesus Christ tells us that as we did not do for those people in need, we didn't do it for Him. Also in Proverbs 19:17, the Bible declares that whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and God will repay Him. We are children of God and thus we should strive to follow what our heavenly father tells us.

For all you know, there is this poor person praying ceaselessly to God to help him survive for a night or a day. It's not that God hasn't heard his or her prayer, but it's because we are not fulfilling our call to bear each others burden (Galatians 6:2). God has always worked through people in order to attend to the needs of His children. Since we are not working towards fulfilling our calls, those in need continues to wait and thus suffer. Jesus said in Matt 25:46 that those who turn blind eye on these poor people shall go into eternal punishment. We should all pray to God to open our eyes and our hearts to identify and help those in need. Can we be the answer to someone's prayers? Can we be the miracle someone is waiting for?

Many times, our blessings come as a result of our help to the poor. "Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38)." God promises us repayment of all our good deeds done to the poor. As children of God, we must abide in love as Christ Jesus loves us.

Finally, we must realize that our journey to meet the Savior (Jesus Christ) is a journey of faith and works. For the Bible says in James 2:14-26 that faith without works is dead. Jesus requires us to have faith in Him and love our neighbors as ourselves, which is the second greatest Commandment (Mark 12:31). We show our love to God through the way we love and help those who are in need. May God help us all to accept this call and make a difference in the lives of the poor people amongst us.

For further readings on helping the poor :{Acts 9:32-43, Mark 10:21, James 1:27, Matthew 5:42, Acts 20:35}