Help Those Who Want Help: A Biblical Principle

“And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.

And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart.

And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.”- Luke 9:3-5

The Lord made it clear to the disciples, as He commissioned them to go out and preach the gospel, that they were not to attempt to bribe anyone into accepting the message of the gospel.

They were also not to spend any time chasing someone to offer ‘help’ out of darkness or even with their circumstances.

The message was clear “stay where you are wanted and where you are not wanted, don’t waste your time”.

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons I have learned in evangelism is “letting go and letting God“.

I had a tendency to want to “save everyone”.

However, the Lord convicted me that this was actually an attitude of pride and distrust in Him rather than one of love for others.

Due to my pride, I missed out on many opportunities to help those who wanted and needed my help, to give the message of the gospel to whose hearts were ready to receive it, because I spent too much time on who didn’t want it and didn’t have a value for it.

Now, to be clear, one cannot assume, by virtue of another’s ethnic/cultural identity, gender, economic status or anything about someone’s appearance, that someone will not receive us.

We have to actually make the sincere effort rather than judging by appearances.

However, from our heart, in accordance with the leading of the Holy Spirit, and pursuant to the Word of God, made every effort to offer someone our love, our support and, most of all, the Word of Truth and are rejected, it is time to move on and don’t look back.

The Apostle Paul addressed this issues as well:

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”-1 Cor. 3:6-7

When we offer someone our love, support and the Word of God, we are either planting or watering. Only God knows which.

Only God can give the increase.

We cannot worry about which role we are in, whether planting or watering, but we must trust God to be God and keep going forward.

We must focus on helping those who want the help.