{"id":4321,"date":"2019-02-27T14:10:12","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T20:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nafwb.org\/?p=4321"},"modified":"2019-02-27T14:10:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T20:10:12","slug":"helping-hurting-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/helping-hurting-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Hurting People"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paul V. Harrison<\/strong><\/p>\n

We live in an age burdened\u00a0by emptiness. Modern day\u00a0man tires himself\u00a0out with the trivial, all\u00a0the while wondering\u00a0why he is so weary with life. Even\u00a0Christians sometimes suffer from\u00a0purposelessness and boredom.<\/p>\n

Jesus addressed this problem\u00a0with a divine paradox: “Come to me,\u00a0all you who are weary and burdened,\u00a0and I will give you rest. Take my yoke\u00a0upon you. . . .” The way to rest, Christ\u00a0said, is to work. The way to fill a life\u00a0with purpose is to pour it out for others.\u00a0But just how are we to launch\u00a0out on these missions of mercy?<\/p>\n

Recognize Their Pain <\/strong><\/p>\n

The first step in helping others is\u00a0to recognize their pain. Our non-\u00a0Christian friends may present themselves\u00a0as trouble-free, but we must\u00a0remember that “the way of the transgressor\u00a0is hard.”<\/p>\n

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet\u00a0desperation.” Many a pumped-up exterior\u00a0only conceals a shriveled spirit.<\/p>\n

In fact, those with the highest of\u00a0attainments often plunge to the lowest\u00a0of despair. Boris Becker, in spite\u00a0of world-wide fame as a tennis star,\u00a0nearly took his life. He confessed:<\/p>\n

“I had won Wimbledon twice before,\u00a0once as the youngest player. I\u00a0was rich. I had all the material possessions\u00a0I needed: money, cars, women,\u00a0everything. . . . I know this is a clich\u00e9.\u00a0It’s the old song of the movie\u00a0and pop stars who commit suicide.\u00a0They have everything, and yet they\u00a0are so unhappy. . . . I had no inner\u00a0peace. I was a puppet on a string.”<\/p>\n

We must recognize the pain that\u00a0inevitably makes its way into the\u00a0heart of every unbeliever.<\/p>\n

Hurting, of course, is not limited\u00a0to those outside the church’s walls.\u00a0Sin with its resultant suffering creeps\u00a0into every life. Every Sunday our pulpits\u00a0and pews are occupied by\u00a0bruised if not crushed spirits. Death\u00a0or disease has struck the family of\u00a0one. Divorce threatens another. A\u00a0rebellious child breaks the heart of\u00a0yet another. Simply put, life is hard.\u00a0 Satan has left no one’s soul free of\u00a0his claw marks, and the first step toward\u00a0helping is to realize the presence\u00a0of this pain.<\/p>\n

Relieve Their Suffering <\/strong><\/p>\n

To recognize suffering, however,\u00a0is not to relieve it. A physician must\u00a0do more than identify illness; he\u00a0must cure it. And this is precisely\u00a0where Christianity flexes its muscles\u00a0for all to see, for Jesus is the Great\u00a0Physician.<\/p>\n

We can point the grieving spouse\u00a0to One who conquered death. We\u00a0can direct the disintegrating husband-\u00a0wife team to the One who created\u00a0and can re-create the family.\u00a0Far from powerless, the Christian is\u00a0able to introduce the one who hurts\u00a0to the One who heals.<\/p>\n

We must be careful, however, not\u00a0to merely say, “Be warmed and filled.”\u00a0The bridge that connects the hurting\u00a0with the Healer is made up of human\u00a0flesh-ours. This, of course, means\u00a0we must be committed, for bridges\u00a0are walked upon, they get dirty, they\u00a0strain under the load they carry.<\/p>\n

I think of the Reformed ministers\u00a0of London in the 1660’s. They had\u00a0been ousted from their pulpits by law\u00a0and replaced with hirelings. But\u00a0when the Great Plague entered the\u00a0city in 1665, the preachers-for-hire\u00a0made a hasty exit, leaving their diseased\u00a0and dying people without pastors\u00a0to provide spiritual counsel.<\/p>\n

So what would the Reformed\u00a0preachers do? Since they no longer\u00a0had any formal responsibility, would\u00a0they too leave town to avoid the\u00a0plague? The St. Giles Cripplegate\u00a0burial register for just September of\u00a0that year provides their answer:<\/p>\n

September 6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Askew, minister, plague<\/p>\n

September 15 \u00a0 Samuel Skelton, minister, plague<\/p>\n

September 16 \u00a0 Abraham Jennaway minister, plague<\/p>\n

September 28 \u00a0 Henry Marley, minister, plague<\/p>\n

September 30 \u00a0 John Wall, minister, plague.<\/p>\n

For these noble men as for their\u00a0Lord, helping was spelled D-E-A-T-H.\u00a0It cost their all. Let me ask you,\u00a0would your commitment to serve\u00a0God and help others lead you to\u00a0stand in harm’s way?<\/p>\n

While the selfless example of\u00a0these ministers inspires us, it’s amazing\u00a0how much God can do with just\u00a0our little offerings. Little is much\u00a0when God is in it.<\/p>\n

For example, I’ll never forget the\u00a0help my family received when serious\u00a0illness visited our home. When I\u00a0was fresh from graduation and just\u00a0one month into pastoring, my wife\u00a0was stricken with systemic lupus, a\u00a0serious and debilitating disease. Six\u00a0times during that first year of ministry\u00a0she was hospitalized. Our family\u00a0stretched to the breaking point. But\u00a0it’s amazing how God used His\u00a0people to strengthen us.<\/p>\n

In the midst of one of Diane’s hospital\u00a0stays our song leader simply\u00a0hugged me and said: “This too will\u00a0pass.” I don’t know how to explain\u00a0it, but that hug injected my soul with\u00a0much needed strength.<\/p>\n

Another day, a little curly-headed\u00a0five-year-old boy showed his concern\u00a0by saying: “I’m sorry your\u00a0mama’s sick.” The little fellow\u00a0couldn’t spell compassion but he\u00a0surely could show it, and God used\u00a0it. And in a hundred other ways, God\u00a0took the expressions of love by His\u00a0people and transformed them into a\u00a0mighty healing instrument.<\/p>\n

So are you struggling to find fulfillment\u00a0in life? Try enlisting in the\u00a0Lord’s work of helping hurting\u00a0people. They are all around you, and\u00a0God would love nothing more than\u00a0to make you a bridge of mercy by\u00a0which the hurting might\u00a0cross over to the healer.<\/p>\n

Article adapted from Contact<\/em>magazine, November 1994.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul V. Harrison We live in an age burdened\u00a0by emptiness. Modern day\u00a0man tires himself\u00a0out with the trivial, all\u00a0the while wondering\u00a0why he is so weary with life. Even\u00a0Christians sometimes suffer from\u00a0purposelessness and boredom. Jesus addressed this problem\u00a0with a divine paradox: “Come to me,\u00a0all you who are weary and burdened,\u00a0and I will give you rest. Take my yoke\u00a0upon you. . . .” The way to rest, Christ\u00a0said, is to work. The way to fill a life\u00a0with purpose is to pour it out for others.\u00a0But just how are we to launch\u00a0out on these missions of mercy? Recognize Their Pain The first step in helping others is\u00a0to recognize their pain. Our non-\u00a0Christian friends may present themselves\u00a0as trouble-free, but we must\u00a0remember that “the way of the transgressor\u00a0is hard.” “The mass of men lead lives of quiet\u00a0desperation.” Many a pumped-up exterior\u00a0only conceals a shriveled spirit. In fact, those with the highest of\u00a0attainments often plunge to the lowest\u00a0of despair. Boris Becker, in spite\u00a0of world-wide fame as a tennis star,\u00a0nearly took his life. He confessed: “I had won Wimbledon twice before,\u00a0once as the youngest player. I\u00a0was rich. I had all the material possessions\u00a0I needed: money, cars, women,\u00a0everything. . . . I know this is a clich\u00e9.\u00a0It’s the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4322,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions\/4322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}