The world will be a completely different place if every child of God simply does his or her bit. But sadly the world is what it is because most children of God do not really know what to do or what their gift is. Maybe they’re looking too deep and too far. Maybe they think they have to pack up, leave their job and go and give Sunday school lessons under a tree somewhere in deep, dark Africa. But this is simply too much – and so nobody does anything.

But we don’t have to look that far. No, we who are children of God has been instructed very simply to: 2 Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Just open your eyes. Take off the glasses covering your eyes and preventing you from seeing the people in need. I challenge you: Go and look around you and see if you can see someone in need. I promise you, you won’t have to look far before the biggest need will jump up in front of you. It’s actually shocking to see how we have programmed ourselves to look past need. Therefore, realise that you are wearing glasses that are blinding you to the need in the world. Take them off. Open your eyes and look.  You will see need all around you.

And when you see do something. Help the people who are in need. But even more than that: 2… Share their burdens…. Become involved. Lift the heavy burden from their shoulders and carry it for a while. I suspect Paul meant that we have to get our hands dirty sometimes. I also suspect that he did not mean for us to push a couple of rands in the person’s hand to buy off our feelings of guilt. No, we must make a plan to alleviate someone else’s need and help carry it.

Annie tells the story of how they saw people going hungry in their town and came up with a plan: 1 tonne of waste for 1 tonne of food. They approached businesses for food donations. They found someone to recycle the waste. Eventually, everybody helped to alleviate the need, even those in need themselves. This shows how people worked together to pick up the burden of hunger and made a difference.

2… and so complete Christ’s law.

All of the ten commandments are expressed in one law: Love one another. How can I love others if I look past their need? When I see the need of others, I have to do something about it. I must pick it up and carry it on my shoulders, because that is real love.

Everywhere we go we find opportunities to love. Everywhere there are places where love can be made real through actions. Each of us have received that instruction. When we understand what Jesus had done for us on the cross, the only thing we can do is to go out and share all of the grace that we have received with the people around who deserve it as little as we did. Our gratitude can actually be measured by the amount of love that we live. It can be measured against all the need we see. It can be measured by the need we carry on behalf of others. May it become visible in each of us. Then the world will be a better place for sure!

Galatians 6:1-2

Reflection

Do you see the need around you?

How can you do something about it?

Where can you become involved?

Prayer

Father, You give us so much. I know I have to make a difference in the lives of others, because I’m grateful. But, Lord, I look past others’ need so easily. Please help me, Lord, to see it. Please show me where You want me to make a difference and please help me lift the need from their shoulders and carry it for them. Amen