Dear Believer, Meet Needs
As followers of Christ, we must seek to engage the needs of people to serve the Lord. In Matthew 25, Jesus told of the sheep and the goats. As he declared this truth, the bystanders asked when we see you in need? The response of Jesus centered on the truth that serving those in need is serving Christ. The purpose of meeting the needs of others does not exist to earn the favor of God. Still, it is a direct response of obedience to the leading of the Lord and opens the opportunity to share the gospel, which is the solution to their greatest need: salvation. James affirms this truth by mentioning that genuine faith is demonstrated by its work, not lip service alone (James 2).
We must strive to see the needs of others. We live in a world full of people with various needs. These needs may be obvious, or they may be flying under the radar. Often, we allow our preconceived notions to blur our view of people with various needs. This blurred vision skews our view of people in a negative light, and we often justify our inaction by our perspective that they are not helping themselves. In Matthew 25, Jesus did not provide a metric to judge genuine need but declared that we must strive to meet the needs of others. (A side note here: this means that we must also learn to practice discernment in this.) The ability to see true needs occurs when we begin to take the view of Jesus. We seek to see the physical and emotional needs of others to help meet those needs and show them, Jesus for their greatest spiritual need. To see the needs, we must look through Christ's eyes and strive to overcome the jaded view of humanity.
We must strive to meet the needs of others. Jesus does not allow believers to recognize a need and then fail to address it. Instead, Jesus mentions that those who are faithful seek the leading of the Lord to meet the needs revealed to them. This occurs as we seek the Lord for guidance and ask him to become his hands and feet as we engage those around us. When we meet the needs of others, we do not seek to give a handout but hope to address the need in a manner that helps the individual move beyond the need. This act means believers often engage in the need over time and not in a one-and-done manner. When we meet the needs of others, we are illuminating Christ and opening the door to speak the truth of the gospel into their lives.
We must strive to maintain a gospel focus. The motivation to meet needs flows from faithfulness but finds focus in the gospel. The gospel fuels us because the message of the gospel led us as followers of Christ to the moment of being set free in a faith-based relationship with Christ. The gospel fuels us because we seek our actions and words to make Christ known to the masses so the lost may have a saving relationship with Christ. The gospel becomes the fuel for our actions.
Jesus commands his children to seek to meet the needs of others. The command is about serving the kingdom of God and following the ways of the Lord. Believers must strive to allow their hearts to become transformed into the heart that serves others and seeks to meet needs to make Christ known. I challenge you to join me and continually ask the Lord to mold our hearts into faithful servants who seek to make him known in word and deed.
