Again – for the sake of others
The Gospel is not difficult to understand. God loves you and me and all the other people so very much that He cries about each and every one who chooses to live outside his guidelines. And that is why He sent his Son to die on a cross so that He could pay for our sins and so that we could return to the Father. Our calling is just as straightforward: We have to help others. Often we wonder what our calling is and often we don’t know where to become involved. We are not sure what our gifts are and take course upon course to make sure what God’s will for our lives is.
Actually the reason for your and my existence is quite simple: For the sake of others. In this section Paul shows us a number of ways in which we can look for ways to do something for someone else every day:
· Help others who have lost the way.
· Be compassionate to others.
· Look for people who are suffering and help them.
· Take other people’s hardship on you for a while.
· Look after the men of God.
Do yourself a favour and go and read these verses in the Bible. It may just help you to hear God’s saying where He wants to use you to make a difference. For example: 2Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. This part is not easy. You have to take up the other person’s burden. My immediate question is: Where do I have to find the space? I already have such a heavy burden myself. This Christian way of doing things doesn’t come naturally.
In a way we are programmed to put ourselves first. Only when we have something left over do we think of others. But that is not what Jesus says. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbour as we do ourselves. That means we have to be sensitive to the other people we meet every moment of every day. That we will ask ourselves all the time what we could do for the person we are talking to right now. But we must also do more: We have to go out and look for people with problems. People like that usually hide and is too ashamed to come out. If we understand our instructions correctly, we will go out and look for the people lying in the gutters of life. But we will do even more: We will actively do something and help carry their burden. Then and only then will we really be doing what God expects of us.
This section ends with a warning or a promise – it just depends on your perspective. 8The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. A warning for those who sow nothing or little: You will harvest nothing or little. A promise for those who sow a lot: You will harvest a lot. And that is the truth. I have learnt from experience that God is faithful and will ensure that you receive. When I look back on my life I can see the beacons, some big, some small, where I could harvest what I had sown. For some a promise, for others a warning.
Love others. What you sow, you will harvest.
Reflection
Where do you have to sow?
Whose burden do you have to carry?
Where do you have to think a little less about yourself?
Prayer
Jesus, I don’t want to live only for myself. I want to follow your example and lay down my life for the sake of others. Thank you that You have done that for me even though I did not deserve it. Amen