What do you do when crisis comes knocking on your door? How do you respond? When I experience a crisis or hear about a friend going through a crisis, my first response is to turn to the Lord. My second response is to call on the body of Christ.
The Lord created us for relationship, relationship with Him and with others. We were never designed to live life alone. In Genesis 2:18, the Father says, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God knows we need others. He believes it so strongly that when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He replied by saying, “’You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [Matthew 22:37-39].
In our society, the motto is “Look out for number one!” It is a survival of the fittest mentality and we wonder why we aren’t successful in relationships. Marriages fail now more than ever. Why is that? We are not looking out for others first. We are too focused on our needs, our desires, our wants.
In Mark 9:35, Jesus makes clear how we are to live. “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” We are to serve.
We have the greatest example of a servant in the very life of Jesus. When He was about to die He chose to serve instead of have others wait on Him [John 13]. The very act of dying on the cross for our sins is the greatest act of service ever displayed on earth.
So how are you at serving others? Are you pulling your weight in the body of Christ? Are you looking for ways to lighten someone’s load? Are you looking for people in your day who need prayer or a kind word? You have multiple opportunities to be Jesus with skin on throughout your day. Ask the Father to give you His eyes so you won’t miss them.