“Can you help me?”
Parents and teachers have this question asked of them very frequently, but most of us don’t often hear these words from others. In fact, our generation is noteworthy for its lack of willingness to voluntarily reach out and assist others–even in times of great peril.
In two appalling examples of calloused indifference, news programs in this country showed a man who was the victim of a hit and run accident, while in another case a woman sitting in a hospital emergency room collapsed and died. In both of these cases, people around ignored these helpless individuals.
Love for others–that is, outgoing concern that is on a par with love for self–is becoming increasingly rare. Jesus spoke of our day and among the many warnings He gave, what He said about the way society would behave is finding its tragic fulfillment: “‘And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold'” (Matthew 24:12).
We must not let that happen to us, and a point to consider is our own approach when we see an opportunity to help others. It is really a matter of the way we think about those with whom we come into contact–that is, our “neighbor.”
The apostle John taught about love, and his writings show us how to prevent our own love from growing cold–he states: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11).
Take careful note that God FIRST loved us, and by that we learned to love–both to love God and others! In fact John very clearly states, “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NASB).
Rather than only waiting to be asked for help, we can develop an attitude and approach built upon the idea that “I can help.” Why think this way? Because it will help us to be the kind of person that really fulfills the Christian way of living.
