Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Wow! I thought, somebody out there is as screwed up as I am! Maybe more screwed up, even! So suddenly I had a "clientele". I had people I could shepherd! And I tell you, as soon as I started to care for others, I felt God's care for me...
It is very easy to find suffering people on this planet. Very easy. Truly the fields are white, and ripe for harvest. And if you make a little effort to care for those around you, the Paraclete will come and care for you.
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Notice that Jesus said, "When I was sick, you cared for Me. When I was in prison, you came and took care of Me." He didn't say, "When I was 'good building material' on the college campus you came and recruited Me into the central lane of God's economy".
Jesus said, "When you give a feast, invite those who cannot repay you. Then you will have a great reward in heaven." Jesus is here giving us a supernatural proposition. Spend your resources, physical, emotional, attention, time, etc on those who cannot give you anything back. You are supposed to squander your resources, to waste them. But He is telling us that something supernatural will occur.
The apostles recognized this, at least in part. Their collections seemed to be for the needy, not for those who already had something. E.g. the apostle Paul writing in Galatians 2:10 -- "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." (NIV) I really don't see them spending millions of dollars on "training centers"; neither then nor now. Instead we Christians have the opportunity to invest our care upon those who have nothing to give us in return, and whom, after our largesse will probably still have next to nothing. It is a supernatural investment.
Which is not to say that we Christians should ignore middle- and upper-class college students. No; the Word is clear that all have sinned, and everyone needs the Good News. But it
is to say that what THE MINISTRY told us, "Don't waste your time" on the poor, the lame, the crippled, the blind, was simply wrong. I was told that verbatim, in a meeting, by an FTTA "trainer". And secondly, it is
also to say that in my experience I got a clear "amen" to this word: when I was reduced to the point that I was with the hopeless cases, I really did find the Paraclete. Actually the Paraclete had found me back in the Lee churches, when the cat dragged me in; I wasn't "good material" then but the dear ones there shepherded me anyway. But I never really sensed the Paraclete like when I started to shepherd the "bad material": ones worse off than me who would only occasionally repay me with affection and gratitude. When I began to try to present hope among the hopeless, it was then that I truly began to
feel the power of hope. I began to realize God's love for these people: it was flowing through me. God cares about them, just as much as everyone else. And I was with them because I was one of them. And I could sense Jesus' words, "I am here with you, until the end of the days."