Hand Out or Hands On?

Hands On!

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. . . . If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."

How do we love our neighbors as ourselves? This is a question that I have pondered for many years because it is important for us to KNOW and DO what Jesus was teaching when he said that ALL the law and prophets can really be summed up in two commands: First, love God with all that we have and all that we are. And second, love our neighbor as ourselves.

All of us have neighbors who are in need. We know people who have physical needs, material needs, spiritual needs. Many of us really want to help. But we have a problem with knowing how we can help those who are needy. Too few of us have learned to help others in a way that does not dehumanize them and rob them of dignity.

Recently, I have become more and more convinced by things that I have seen and heard that the key to loving our neighbors as ourselves is to build friendships with them. Let them know that they are truly valued as real people, not just projects that need to be handled (or even worse, problems to be solved). 

Just yesterday Heather and I listened to a testimonial by a woman who had been living as a prostitute in order to support her drug habit. But people came into her life and cared about her in the way that Jesus taught. She was liberated from the drugs and the prostitution and she was spiritually born into the family of God. With palpable joy, she spoke of what a wonderful feeling it was to give gifts and tithes for the first time from her own pay check. She was motivated by the love of God and others when she felt valued and began to realize that she could learn to live a productive life and support herself.

I chose the picture above of two grandchildren making a nice dinner casserole. They had a ball working together with their hands. At the end of the evening, it was more than obvious that this meal was better "hands on" than as if someone else had made it and served it as a "hand out"! It illustrates the value of relationships and the value of creative work.

Let's pray for godly and creative ways to love and encourage others around us so that we really DO love our neighbors as ourselves.