This week I was listening to Andy Stanley’s message, “Do For One,” in his Leadership Conference Podcast. In that podcast (the link is below) he talks about how to keep your heart from getting hard in the ministry.
All Christians are called into a life of ministry (service) for the Gospel and yet here’s the thing… sometimes the needs around us can be so great and so overwhelming that it’s easy to fall into the mentality of, “Well since I can’t help everyone, I’m not going to help anyone.”
As a Pastor, I KNOW that feeling. Sometimes there are days that it seems like EVERYBODY needs help and I have to confess that there’s part of me that just wants to hide myself in my office because I don’t always know how to navigate through everyone’s problems.
In the podcast Andy Stanley is asked, “With everything you have going on… how do you keep your heart from growing cold toward people since there are always more people than you can really help?”
His answer was very profound and simple:
Do For One What You Wish You Could Do For All.
The big danger is to push away people’s problems because sometimes the magnitude and the quantity of issues are just too overwhelming. What do we do in such situations? Andy Stanley suggests something that I’ve found to be true in my own life… I need to always be doing for one or two individuals/families what I wish I could do for everyone. When I say doing for one or two individuals/families, I’m talking about REALLY getting involved in their lives whether it’s opening up your homes or providing financial help.
As a pastor, I can respond at some level to people’s problems in general… but there’s no way I can effectively deal with everyone’s problems at a deep level, but I can deal with one or two people at a deep deep level.
In John chapter 15, Jesus is in Jerusalem and there was a Pool of Bethsaida in which there were all kinds of sick and lame people. It was said that from time to time an angel would come and stir the waters and whoever got in the water first was healed of whatever ailed them. Jesus walks over all the sick people to a single man who had been paralyzed for 38 years and asks him, “Do you want to be made well?” and then heals him… and walks away. He only healed one person out of the whole crowd.” I’m not sure it’s a perfect example, but you get the point: Do For One What You Wish You Could Do For All.
A lot of you are actively doing what I’m talking about and you truly are an inspiration to me (you know who you are) but can you imagine what would happen if EVERYONE in our fellowship took Doing For One What You Wish You Could Do For All seriously?
May God give us the courage to aggressively engage the needs in this community one person at a time so that we might continue to Know Christ And To Make Him Known!
Link for Andy’s Podcast, “Do For One.” http://bit.ly/doforone
(All his podcasts are incredible!)