Reach Out

Recently, while checking out some of the “oldies” channels on my satellite radio I ran across an old song just as the group was singing “reach out. . .” and then they went on to sing “I’ll be there. . .” while not promoting the group or their song, there is definitely a message for all of us in it.

During this time of economic chaos there are a lot of people in our world which are feeling the crunch; many are hurting, reeling from the loss of jobs, and the increased costs of goods and services. Evidence of this can be seen in places such as in the sale of repair parts for cars; people are keeping and fixing their vehicles instead of selling them as we have in the past few years. The increased sales in groceries and markets, as families are discovering the cost savings of eating more at home and less out. Lower priced housing sales are booming while those expensive houses with excess space are selling slower. I know that there are a multitude of reasons associated with all of these and other indicators which you see every day, but they all point to a change in lives and lifestyles. As you know change comes hard for most of us and is often accompanied by painful experiences.

All of this leads me to the reason for this post. How will you respond, and more importantly, how will the true Christians respond? Just briefly, here are a few of the ways which I see the Christians and churches responding:

(1) Pray
– the first thing which needs to be done is to pray. Through prayer we can hear the heart of God and find His direction for our lives. It is through prayer we find the specifics of how we are to reach out to those around us who need a hand. It is through prayer that we become sensitive to the leading of Holy Spirit so we can go to the right places and do the right things. Pray for every government leader that you can think of. Nobody wants our cities, states or nation to crumble. But it will ultimately be God who brings healing to our land.

(2) Live
– live a life which is a true reflection of your relationship with the One True God. There is somewhat of a debate amongst the Christian community as to how our actions reflect our relationship with God. We are all still wrapped up in the carnal flesh housing appropriate to this world (got to have a body to hang out in this realm) and that carnality is subject to momentary failure at any time. If the Apostle Paul struggled with always doing what is right, saying (and I paraphrase) The things I want to do, those are the things that I don’t do, and the things that I do not want to do, those are the things that I wind up doing, then he adds, who will deliver me from this body of death! If that was his plight then we also are most certainly subject to making those same kinds of mistakes. However, we cannot allow out carnality to become an excuse for not trying our hardest to live a life which reflects our passion and thankfulness to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who, by the way, always causes us to triumph in His name. Just because we fail does not mean that we have to, sometimes we just blow it. All of that said, we are to live out our lives before the world so that they may see in us the glory of God and when they see the love we have it will direct them towards God. (sorry, that got a little preachy)

(3) Give
– during this time in our lives it is the perfect time to be generous. A couple of reasons, first, there are people around you which need your generosity. If your giving is coupled with your prayer only heaven knows the needs you may be meeting as you give. Secondly, God loves a cheerful giver. Our God is a generous God, who has given to us without measure, so should we give. Give that which you have in excess, and give out of your own hand as well. God challenges us to give in the Book of Malachi and to test Him with our giving. His part – He will open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings upon you which you cannot believe.

These are just three simple things which all of us can do to help our friends, those who are about be become our friends, and also those who we will never meet. I have started to hear those who are speaking of this economic time as a rebuke or “lesson” from God. While I believe that the removal of God from many of the affairs within our country has had a defined negative effect on our part of the world, I also believe our part as Christians is not to stand and point a “naughty-naughty” finger at then, but to stand, in the middle of the crises and direct all that we can towards Him.

One last thought. It is during times of crises that some of the greatest revivals have come. There are reports of Muslims, who do not approve of the violence of some of their fellow believers, beginning to question their faith, and in so doing they are opening themselves up to a presentation of the True Gospel. I find it much more useful for God’s people to take the hand of another human, created in the image of God, and lead them towards Him and let His Holy Spirit do His job of convicting of sin.

My prayer is that you will be touched by the heart of God as you have read these thoughts and that you will find your place in Christian service as He speaks to you. If you have questions or comments, just send me an email.

Serving Him by Serving You,

Joe Jackson, jr.