Tuesday, June 29: Help, I need somebody!

Most of us are familiar with the phrase, “The Lord helps them who help themselves.” Just hearing it makes you want to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and be strong. If you are wondering where in the Bible that well-known saying occurs, or even the verse that it is based on, you won’t find either. In fact, God does quite the opposite. He loves the unlovable. He helps the helpless. He rescues the lost. Don’t ever forget that we were all dead in our trespasses until God made the dead alive again; He made the broken whole; He made the lame walk; He made the blind see; and He made the deaf hear.


14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. 15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Titus 1:14-16


To those people young in the faith, this saying is an example of one of those fables and commandments that could lead someone far astray from the place God wants them. Our Lord desires for us to remain on the straight and narrow path that leads directly to Him. For those having difficulty finding that path, God tells you about that walk in His Book, which is filled with examples of how to live your life. Though our salvation certainly is not based on our works, but instead, on the work that Jesus already has accomplished on our behalves at Calvary, the verse above in Titus demonstrates to us that our works should be of a godly nature if we are walking with Jesus. Our Lord gives us some great examples of how to treat others through His deeds and through His words:


41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:41-46


I remember my first venture into big city life. Shortly after college, I lived in Washington, D.C. I still vividly recall a homeless man holding up a sign that said, “Hungry, need food.” Having spent many of my formative years in the South, where neighbors actually helped each other, I felt incredibly sorry for this man. I went into a nearby McDonalds and bought him a meal, but upon handing the meal to him, he threw it on me! He wasn’t hungry; he was thirsty for booze. Money for his addiction would ease his pain, but food wasn’t on the agenda. I stood beside him and told every person who made a move to give him any loose change what he had done. Finally, he departed. After that time, I found it difficult to help homeless people, as I made a judgment about all of them based on one wayward man.

Soon after becoming a Christian, I was blessed with the opportunity to play guitar and sing at a church service in a rescue mission. In a manner of a month, I also was giving the sermon at the Saturday night church service there. My perspective changed dramatically. Many of those people were drug abusers or alcoholics, trying desperately to get back on their feet. Certainly, there had been many wrong decisions along the way in all of their lives. Yet, as my life surely was not without sin, I could not cast the first stone! The passage above in Matthew doesn’t say help those who deserve your help. Instead, Jesus tells us to help those in need. Give them food, give them clothing and give them water. Even if they are guilty of a heinous crime, visit them in prison! I do notice that the passage doesn’t say to give them money. That money might be a stumbling block used for the purchase of a substance that keeps them homeless. Don’t forget, Jesus was homeless. Would you help Him? All of us desire the basics of food, shelter and companionship! Never forget that every person you come in contact with was perfectly and marvelously created by God. He doesn’t make losers! They have eternal souls that badly need a Lord to guide them, and without Him they are captives of the same one who controlled you before you came to the Lord!


58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Luke 9:58