I find universal agreement that Christians should be involved in doing good. I want to ask why bother, what does it look like and why do we sometimes find it so hard?
Why bother?
We know only too well that we live outside the garden of Eden, where work is toil and relationships and strained. But even under the curse, humanity has under God the capacity and responsibility to care. God works for the good of his creation, and being in the image of God means that we have the blessing to use the fruits of our labour to do good.
Sure this world is passing away (vain, in older Bible translations), but that does not excuse from compassion and service when we see a need. The transitory nature of this world will affect what we support as we strive for things eternal, but it does not overturn our responsibility to care in the here and now.
What does social benefit look like?
There is just too much ‘twistedness’ in this world to care for everything. So, rather than do nothing we need to care for what we know and are concerned about.
Last weekend I heard from Jai who heads Wellspring Projects. After completing university, Jai went to India to help in an orphanage. While there he discovered that some of the girls in the orphanage were being abused. Motivated by what he had seen, he set about establishing a home for girls where they could be protected. Against all odds, by the mercy of God, the Delhi Girls Home is now up and running, resourced entirely by donation and prayer.
What does social benefit look like? Seeing a need, and seeing how you can help to overcome that need, and then working to answer that need, using the many resource that God has given us.
Why is care so hard?
But it doesn’t come naturally.
We are by nature self centred beings. It is one of the great works of God to make us other person centred. We should ask God and strive for change in this area.
I’m sure if we examine our hearts we will all have different stories to tell about what slows us down in being generous, but I want to dwell on just one.
As I examine myself and talk with friends about it, one of the reasons why we don’t engage more in helping others less fortunate, is the sense of entitlement. By this I mean that we work hard and for long hours for our income, and that hard work makes us think that we are entitled to the fruit of our labour for ourselves because we had to exert so much in order to obtain it. I hear so often the justification for the expensive holiday as “I need a good break because I have worked so hard”. I often agree with the comment and it is the teaching of demons to reject the good things God has given (1 Timothy 4), but we must be aware that this does not become an entitlement that overturns the privilege of care for others.
The sense of entitlement is insidious. A week does not go by when a politician somewhere in the world is exposed for doing immoral and selfish things because they have worked so hard. We too, must be on our guard.
Some suggestions
So how do we work at using the fruits of our labour for the common good?
Here are some simple, quick suggestions
1. Look around you. Make sure you are not blind to the needs nearby. Read what is happening in the world further removed than your day-to-day setting.
2. Because needs will always outweigh our capacity, think through what things you want to support. It might be that you have a direct interest in correcting some evil or need, or that you can join with friends from church in supporting something together.
3. Determine the resources that you should commit to these things. (When we think resources it so often revolves around giving money; but our resources also include our time and energy, and the toiling in prayer for God to bless the work.)
4. One you have decided, keep going in it; don’t feel guilty that you can’t support other things, and re-assess your commitments at appropriate times.
5. If you are passionate about a ministry, and it is worth supporting then enlist others to it as well.
