Showing Christ To Others by Mike Buchanan

A Muslim was attacked and left for dead by the side of the road. A Christian walked by, and seeing his Islamic garb, passed by thinking, “This is obviously God’s punishment for his religious beliefs.” Then he continued to walk. Later a conservative walked by, and remembering 9/11, thought, “The world is better off without him.” Then he, too, continued to walk. Lastly, a non-practicing Jew walked by, and being moved with compassion, started administering first aid. When he had come to the limits of his wisdom, he took him to a hospital, had him admitted, and told the doctors, “Whatever he needs, do it for him, and I will pay for the expenses.” Which of these three best displayed Jesus’ commands to “… love your enemies…”? or for that matter, His command to love your neighbor as yourself? (Luke 6:27, Mark 12:31)

The story is a modernization of the parable of The Good Samaritan from Luke 10. Yet, almost two thousand years later, the principles are the same. As Christians, we are called to show Christ’s love to a suffering and dying world. To the world whether or not we agree with them, whether or not they love us, whether we think we have a reason to hate them or not, we are told to do good to them (Luke 6:27)

So, you may be thinking it’s a great idea in practice, but how does it play out in real life, Mike? Look around you. Who needs help? Who needs Jesus? Let’s look at the questions separately at first and see if they don’t have commonalities.

The answer to the first question is everyone needs help at some point. Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, they all have needed help or will need help at some point in their life. Be available at the moment you interact with them. It doesn’t take a lot, even if you have little money, or whatever, offer what you have. It was a young boy who provided the fish and loaves which Jesus multiplied to feed thousands. He didn’t have much, but he gave what he had. Now notice, he apparently didn’t give it to get his name known. None of the Gospels record this young fellow’s name. Yet we still talk about it all these centuries later. Make donations to organizations that are helping those in need. Cliché though it is, every little bit helps. (Note: It might be worth the time to research to see which do the best with the gifts they’re given. Also, you may want to focus on the ones that have a Gospel-sharing component).

Don’t have money? Give clothes (or ask your neighbors for contributions, even) to your church’s homeless ministry. You may be thinking, “My church doesn’t have a homeless ministry.” Excellent point. Start one. You don’t live in a place where there are lots of homeless? No worries, reach out to a local school and see if there are families in need. Maybe you’re great as a teacher and are looking for ways to pass idle hours, offer to tutor struggling students on a volunteer basis. Have a heart for those dealing with health issues or are in or just out of the hospital? Reach out in your neighborhood to see what’s in place. If there isn’t anything? You guessed it. Start something.

Whether it’s the hurting, homeless, unemployed, flat tire on a freeway, whatever it might be, there are needs all around us every day. What am I doing about it? What are you doing about it? People need help, but people also, most importantly, need Jesus. As you’re looking for practical ways to bless others (be Jesus to people) with your time, talents, money, or whatever, physically, pray for the opportunity to share Jesus with them, too. There seems to be a lot of self-centeredness in the world today. The ones you help may question your motives and people who see you giving aid to others might ridicule you. Tell them why you’re doing it. Maybe it’s as simple as saying “Jesus has given me His all, and I don’t always have enough words to express it, so I try to live my life for Him so other people can know about Him as well.” Less and less people are hearing about Jesus. As you “wash someone’s feet” and you tell them it’s because of Jesus, you may find someone who asks who Jesus is. Or you can ask them whom they think Jesus is. The thing is, the more we interact with others, the more we try to be His Hands and Feet, the more chances we have to be His Voice as well.

After Jesus tells His Disciples what the signs of His Return are, He then talks about a separation process that will have eternal consequences. He says that people who have clothed the naked, fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless, or visited the sick or imprisoned, will go on to inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for them since the foundation of the world. Those who have not done such things are sent to everlasting punishment. The interesting thing is the people who inherit eternal life don’t know when they did it, and the people who “inherit” hell don’t know when they didn’t do it. Jesus says, paraphrased, “When you do it to the least of these my brethren you do it to me, but when you don’t do it for the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.” (Matthew 25:40,45)

Now that being said, I would recommend using Romans as a motivator, God showed His Love to us while we were yet sinners, by sending Christ to die for us. In other words, don’t do it because you’re looking for a reward, do it as an expression of love and worship. Would you rather have someone do something for you out of love or out of anticipation of a reward?

Last, some of Jesus’ last words instructed His Followers to go and preach the Gospel to the entire world. No matter how much you may help someone physically or emotionally, their greatest need is always to know Christ came to save them, Jesus said, “No greater love has any man than this, that a man lay his life down for his friends.” (John 15:13 NIV) Primarily He spoke this about His own death. This meant He was going to lay His Life down to purchase our opportunity for eternal life. I would suggest there’s no greater expression of service than to share this Good News, of Christ’s sacrificial gift, to everyone we might in any way help otherwise.

Mike Buchanan is a Christian writer and the author of the book Mountains of Hope Surrounding the Valley of Cancer. He uses his writing talents to further Jesus’ Gospel.