NOW IS THE TIME TO BE FAITHFUL

By Andrea Guachalla

I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m presented with a situation where someone is in need I don’t necessarily go out of my way to help them. No… I actually stop myself and ponder on all my good deeds. I try to convince myself I don’t really need to do anything in those circumstances because “I already do so many good things, why would I do yet another good deed?”. Convincing myself of my goodness is easy. But not content with that I then turn to God and remind him of all the areas I’ve served him in and how I keep serving him so he will also take my side on the issue and recognize I’m entitled to not respond to the needs of others.

With time I’ve learned to deny myself and prioritize others more and more, but the sin of my flesh still sometimes leads me to an inexcusable prideful behavior towards others and, worse… towards God. 

That pride has proven it can infect all of my relationships, whether it’s with classmates, close friends, brothers and sisters from church, my own family, or just people on the street. All of them have needs. I can see that. If they are not in need of financial, or emotional support, they are often in need of the spiritual truth that can set them free: the Gospel. In many cases it doesn’t take much to realize in which area a person is in need.

And yet… When given the opportunity to serve God and, by extension, my neighbor I prefer to serve myself. I’m faithful to my own interests, but not faithful to God. My sinful flesh finds more satisfaction in enjoying myself than serving the needy. It makes more sense to respond to my needs and find excuses to ignore others’. But does that really glorify God? Why do I love myself so pridefully?

Recently I noticed the extent of the wickedness of my rotten motivations when I found myself looking for excuses not to share the Gospel with people I often spend time with. My excuse? “I already work too much on reaching unreached groups with the Gospel”. And that is factually true, that is my actual job. But… Why would I use that as an excuse not to respond to the spiritual needs of the people who surround me day to day? How rotten does your heart have to be to refuse to share with others the greatest message you have received by pure grace? Doesn’t the bible say we are not to grow weary of doing good? 

Sometimes when a close friend or an acquaintance is in some sort of trouble my first question to God is “Do I really need to respond to their need?” when really my question should be “Lord, how do you want me to serve this person in this particular situation?”

Nothing is by chance. God doesn’t reveal to us the needs of others so we can ignore them, He doesn’t put unbelievers in our lives so we refuse to share the Gospel with them, the Father doesn’t give us a job and financial means to have a luxurious life neglecting caring for the needy. God helps us see the needs of others so we can prayerfully respond to them in wisdom and (more often than not) in practical ways, he gives us family, friends and acquaintances who rebel against Him so we can share the Gospel with them, he gives us financial means to sustain us, and our families, but also to be generous towards the church and others.

Nothing is ours. Everything is His (Romans 11:36). Yes, even your unbeliever friends. Yes, even that job you don’t enjoy doing. Yes, even the harsh circumstances that lead us to be more like Christ. And what are we? What do we have within us to offer? Nothing.

Some weeks ago one of the pastors from my church preached on the topic of service and how it looks in a church context. I held back my tears when I heard him saying that we have been given the greatest and most underserved privilege of all: to serve the holy, holy, holy God, creator of the universe. Us being the wretched, weak creatures that we are. We are allowed to serve God, and yet we sometimes see it as a burden and look for excuses not to do it. We remind God of how good we are so he will not make us deny ourselves and prioritize Him and others.

Oh, Lord! Would you help us understand how much of a privilege it is to serve you and others? Would you make us quick to respond to our neighbors’ needs, and slow to indulge ourselves? Would you give us a heart that seeks first and foremost to serve you in every single circumstance we are in? Renew our minds and hearts so we can understand that we are not supposed to wait until tomorrow, or next year, or after we get married, or after graduation to start serving you, help us see that RIGHT NOW is the time to be faithful to you.