Helping others whilst we face troubles ourselves is an act of faith that God blesses and rewards us for.
We all too often get caught up with our own concerns. After all, there are more than plenty for each of us. One of the issues with focussing on these is that we can put off helping others until we get help for ourselves.
In the extreme case of a world where no one helps each other because they need help themselves, we become selfish and lose the synergistic benefits of the Church body.
Share each other's burdens
In the Bible, we aren't told God only wants us to do His will if we are feeling well or if we feel up to it. Hence we must overcome this problem by helping each other, despite facing troubles of our own.
Instead, we are expected to share in each other's burdens and help out: "I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles."(Philippians chapter 4 verses 13 and 14)
As Christians, we can always get through our troubles because God provides all our needs, and this applies to not just us, but the other Christians we help out too. However, by helping others anyway, we step out in faith trusting that God indeed will supply all our needs, as well as being generous and loving.
This isn't the end of the story though. We all should know what happens when we do step out in faith: God blesses us, he provides for us and he increases our faith so we can experience even more and bigger miracles in our life.
The secret of being content
In verse 12 of Philippians chapter 4, Paul talks about the secret of being content: "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation..."
I find it very interesting why being content in every situation is such a secret, as in, even though we hear it, we don't necessarily comprehend the full extent of what it means.
Perhaps the way to truly learn this secret is to really put into practise and experience it first hand in our own life by helping others whilst in the valley: by trusting that God will look after our needs because he says he will, and accepting that this is enough for us.
What are some of the ways we can help others?
Here are just a few that you might feel convicted to act on:
Asking if someone is alright and giving them time to hear their concerns, being a helping hand for someone like this or even providing advice, praying for others, giving gifts, encouraging one another, etc.
To conclude, when we help others by sharing in their concerns, God blesses us for taking a step out in faith (helping despite having troubles ourselves) and hence we, by helping others also reap a reward for ourselves.
Tim Robertson is from Sydney, and likes to write about recent learnings in the hope that other people may also benefit from them.
Tim Robertson's previous articles may be found at www.pressserviceinternational.org/tim-robertson.html