Help Others
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
– 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Compassion. Kindness. Prayers.
We will go through hard times. It might be a hurricane that takes away our material possessions. It might be power outages and damage to our home. It could be a broken heart caused by the death of a loved one or a marriage that falls apart. It might be an illness or accident that sends your life down a path you never chose.
Why? That’s the question we all ask. We know that God turns all things to good if we give it to Him. (Romans 8:28) But what does “good” look like?
Sometimes it’s strength to get through whatever we’re facing. Sometimes it’s peace in the middle of whatever happens. And sometimes good looks like walking beside people who are going through what we survived.
There’s a certain kind of compassion that comes when you’ve been there. It’s not about empty words – however well meaning – or platitudes. It comes from the heart of someone who has made the journey.
God uses people like you and me. Someone from church called me after I was diagnosed with cancer. She had no idea I had cancer. She called about something else. We had a beautiful conversation about God’s faithfulness. She’d walked the road I was on. She understood.
As Christians we are part of a fellowship, a family, that helps others. We have our church family, of course, but we also have others to help. We are called to serve. That’s what Jesus told us to do.
Sometimes that looks like taking a meal to someone who is sick. It might be mowing someone’s yard or changing a light bulb. It could be providing transportation to a doctor’s appointment or including someone who is alone in your holiday celebrations.
And sometimes it’s simply showing up and walking beside someone who is in the midst of hard. Compassion. Kindness. Prayers. We hurt so that one day we might be able to help someone else going through what we once faced.
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