How to help? ...

Thursday, May 23, 2013. We had a long discussion recently about “helping each other”. Christians live in an environment, where helping each other is one of the key objectives. But there are problems …

How can we help? …

We had the situation of someone coming from an east European coutry, who is currently staying in a west European country, but without official visa or documents. Now he is asking for help. What should you do?

The discussion we had brought all kinds of arguments. “Just tell him to go back and then get official documents!” Some of us were quite straight, since it does not make sense to try to sort out a life for people who live illegally in another country, where things are relatively well-set for those, who first get their visa and work permit and then find work …

On the other hand, there is real need, there is real poverty and misery! When you are in contact to it, it is good to help and do something to help the particular case you have.

The general approach and single case …

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When we are faced with a single case, we should try to solve what we can. But what is it “what we can”? That is not always clear. And it can differ from individual to individual. When you are already helping five people, and your days are very full with activities, with your job, your family and the things you have taken responsibility for … you might come to different conclusions than another person, who has some free time left to help some person!

Jesus himself has given us a sincere warning, telling about the good Samaritan, who has helped, where other officials did not find the time to stop their activity and see the need. There is the danger that we are drawn into our activities and responsibilities (which might be good), but we loose our capability to help where help is needed (which is very bad!).

Sometimes, help includes a straight path. Sometimes, help includes a “No”. When you deal with people who have lost the ability to deal with their own life, you quickly learn that clear rules are essential for progress. So a part of help can be the insight, that just giving without thinking clearly and without a larger plan might even be counter productive …

And again, we come to the point that we need the wisdom of the Lord to find our own personal way, how we can contribute to spread the love of God by helping each other! Let us pray for this wisdom. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts