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If we are standing in the gap and underprivileged children come to know Jesus, we shall see a decline in the severity of dysfunctional families. 

WHY HELP?

First, let’s consider one typical situation (please keep in mind that there are infinite scenarios):

Tanisha is a fictitious person.  Tanisha’s father has always been a street person - coming and going to visit with Mom.  Mom loves her children, and has attempted to raise Tanisha the best she knows how, along with her other three siblings.  Tanisha grows up viewing a father a type of "lover", rather than a caretaker and provider.  In her teenage years, she begins to search for false security from boys who want to have sex with her, giving her a false sense of approval and self-worth.  Then she gets lost in the “promiscuous” trap, which results in another home where a confused mother is attempting to raise children.  Where does the cycle end?

Who will stand in the gap for Tanisha’s family? 

The rich young ruler succeeded in Bible Study, and applied what he learned to his character, but did not apply it to his way of life.  We must be cautious not to get to a place where we think we know the Bible and live the Bible, and then neglect to leave our lifestyle to follow Jesus.  If the Lord is truly directing our steps, we will show a dependency on His Word daily comparable to no other dependency … even unto the day we depart from this earth!  We should aspire to become as much like Jesus as possible before leaving this earth, and that process stops when we stop going because we think we have already become what He expects.  If we do stop, and do not realize God wants to take us beyond our own current capabilities, God cannot use us as He intends.  God has authored a big plan for us … helping others to get to know Him, and He so desires to finish the plan if we will only recognize and acknowledge that we cannot go further without Him and will not quit like the rich young ruler did.  We are told to run this race with endurance, casting aside every hindrance, not looking back, staying the course, knowing that God will be with us to the end, and then we shall become fishers of men … for only with God, are all things possible.

We are obedient to God, who sends us!

Initial responses to this program often include:

“I can’t do this.”

Jesus teaches us to know that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  All things are possible with God (we must depend on His guidance and strength).  From experience, we can testify that we can’t go all the way with God if our service is limited to what we think we can do. 

“I’m not going to enable, they need to learn to help themselves.”

Who will lead them?  Sure, there is a significant difference in enabling and discipline.  But, does our God expect His chosen children, a holy priest-hood and a peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9), to depend on the government to give the personal attention necessary to heal these families?  Jesus said that He came for the sick, not those who are healthy.  Jesus is now living in us.  Regarding those who are ill … to be irresponsible when they know better is one thing, but to be ignorant is another.  Who will be their judge? 

“Shouldn’t we be very selective regarding who we help?”

The good Samaritan did not stop to consider the circumstances of the neighbor he was helping.  Prayer should always be the basis of determination regarding where we go.   

“I don’t have time.”

Jesus called the disciples to drop what was on their own agenda now to “Follow Me.”  Each of the twelve disciples walked away from their work to obey the Lord.  Then others later said that they had things to do that were more of a priority to them (including weddings and funerals) before they could come back to follow Jesus.  Often, we should evaluate what we are doing and whether we are actually doing everything Jesus is telling us to do.  We often have things we have not let go of, not surrendering all, for the sake of following Jesus and building His Kingdom. 

“I’ve got family obligations; I can't do anymore than that.”

Jesus said, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.”  Traditions of the world teach us to invite our family and friends to dinner … and to exchange gifts with them, but this is not what Jesus teaches us, nor is it a full investment into His Kingdom according to the Bible.  “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life.”  Mark 10:29-30

“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  Matthew 5:46-48 

“Helping others is probably dangerous.”

God did not give us a Spirit of fear, but of love, and a sound mind.  The sound mind cautions us regarding unsafe situations, and the love of God causes us to want to take risks to help others.  Those that need help are most often not going to be found in the safest of places, so we must go into the highways and byways (alleys of any sort) to get to those persons we are called to go to.  “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”  John 15:13 

“I’m getting too old to do what I might have done if I were younger.”

We are not younger and will never go back.  With age comes experience, and knowledge based on that experience.  Also with age, we become an effective voice for the Lord.  Where a worldly teen-ager may be rebellious to wisdom, those older even become smart enough to accept that elders can teach us something we don’t already know. 

“I tithe, isn’t that enough?”

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Though you tithe, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faith … the love of God.  These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”  He also asks, “When I return, will I truly find faith on the earth?”   Jesus teaches us to give alms.  From experience, missionaries learn that 10% was that small requirement that taught us, after we’ve started conforming to the patterns Jesus teaches, that we can do more, because we find that we need less than the ordinary pleasures we once afforded ourselves.  I shall not want. 

“I couldn’t afford to do anything.”

Our example, Jesus, did not even have a place to lay His head, yet, He disciplined many.

Besides, we are all very rich in America.  If this is not believable, consider those in other countries that only make $1 - $2 / day.

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.  Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.  1 Timothy 6:17-19 

To whom much is given, much is required . . .

In the physical, it is as hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  The rich young ruler did well to obey the commandments (had developed good character), but he could not give up his personal agenda to follow Jesus. 

In the spiritual, if we study, and do not apply what we’ve learned, what good is that?  If a man studies many years to become a Doctor, but never becomes a Doctor, what profit came from His studies?  In America, we have been given much freedom to follow the Lord, nonetheless, we are seeing that freedom being taken away day by day because we are not fully taking advantage of this freedom and proving to the world that God is Good.