A little boy said to a playmate: “When I get older, I want to wear glasses just like Grandma wears. She must have a special kind of glasses because she can see much more than most people. She can see when folks are hungry, tired or sorry, and she can even see what will make them feel better. She can see how to fix a lot of things to have fun with, and she can see what I meant to do, even if I didn’t do it right. She can see when I am about to cry, and she knows what to do to make it feel better. I asked her one day how she could see so good, and she said it was the way she learned to look at things as she got older. So, when I get older, I want glasses just like Grandma’s so I can see good too!”
The above article was published in Bulletin Gold. It’s a cute piece to read, but consider how much wisdom is in this short story. It does take a special kind of heart to perceive and to respond to the needs of others. Many people want to turn their heads (and eyes) away from the needs of others because they simply don’t want to get involved or expend the energy and resources that might be required to relieve the hurt.
What if Jesus had demonstrated this attitude? We should be so thankful that He came to minister to the needs of others. Not only did He feed the hungry, heal the sick and provide for those who were in need, He came to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He came to “save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, seeing that He ever lives and makes intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
The early Christians also responded to the needs of others. Just listen to this: “They brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches…There came a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and those who had an unclean spirit…and every one of them was healed” (Acts 5:15ff). They took care of the physical needs of others and, at the same time, they taught them about eternal salvation. As a result, many came to believe in Jesus and His saving power, for we read, “More and more believers were added to the Lord” (Acts 5:14). Of course, we don’t possess the miraculous powers of the apostles, but we must, to the best of our abilities, see and respond to the physical and spiritual needs of others.
Paul told the Corinthians that God would help them as they strived to meet the needs of others. “God is able to make all grace abound toward you…that you may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Every good work means not only meeting the physical needs of others but seeing after their spiritual needs as well. We’re all familiar with the old sayings that “seeing is believing” and “out of sight, out of mind.” Sometimes we see and still don’t believe, and we quickly put things out of our minds when we don’t want to deal with them.
The prophet Jeremiah spoke of such a condition of man as we read in Jeremiah 5:21-23, “O foolish people who are without understanding. You have eyes to see and see not and ears to hear and hear not. Don’t you fear Me? says the Lord…this people has a revolting and rebellious heart.” I can’t speak for you, but I know that I don’t want eyes that can’t see and ears that can’t hear. Of course, it’s not the physical side of this equation that we should fear. There are many who have the malady of being blind or deaf, and that in no way is an indication they are lost and of no use because of their afflictions. Rather, it is the malady of sin that causes us to revolt and be rebellious against God, and that is what we need to “see” and avoid. The Wise Man wrote in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” We must see with our eyes and hearts the truth of God’s Word and obey it.
