Help for the Helpless

"You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."  2 Corinthians 3:3

When you think of helplessness what comes to mind?  

• Children?  
• Refugees?  
• Homeless? 
• Addicted?    
• Persecuted?  
• Down and Trodden?
• Vulnerable animals?
• Exploited environment?

The reason I'm thinking about this is I received an email this morning with the latest Blog post from Simple Church Journal about discovering your life message.  Roger Thoman founded a ministry 12 years ago based on what he calls Simple Church.  As a pastor of a "brick and mortar church" he became disenchanted with the results of his efforts.  He asked for a leave of absence from his church in order to address the burnout he was feeling and never returned.  Instead he developed a plan for starting Simple/House Churches.  You can download a free ebook at the link above (Blog post) and learn more about his ministry.

He writes, "The simple/organic church lifestyle opens the door for every believer to step into his unique calling and recognize his unique ‘letter’ written on his heart by the Spirit of God. Every person has the privilege and responsibility of tuning into the process in which God shapes each one for his destiny. Part of that is recognizing the core message—the life message—that He has formed in us."

In Thoman's blog post he quotes Tony Stoltzfus from his book Leadership Coaching in which he says every Christian has “a special life message that’s a summary of their story—the place where their various life messages join together in one theme… That one-of-a-kind message is the heart of their call.”

Thoman then summarizes three ways in which you can identify what your life message is:

1. Finding Your Current Life Message by Looking at Your Suffering

Write down a key difficulty you suffered through that has significantly shaped you. Then, write down the core message that this experience built into you for others!

2. Finding Your Current Life Message by Looking at Your Soapbox

What are the themes you come back to over and over when you are helping or serving others? What are you always talking passionately about? What do you most yearn to impart to people? Write down the core message!

3. Finding Your Current Life Message by Looking at What Injustices You Want to Fight

What injustices make you want to rise up and fight for the good of all? What’s the injustice you see, where you have a compelling vision of the better future that could be? Write down the core message that you want others to hear!

 As I answered these questions I immediately was reminded that I've always been drawn to help the helpless.  As a child I was often put into a helpless situation.  Coming to Christ at age eight made the difference in my life.  I learned to seek God in those moments.  I didn't need to turn to alcohol or drugs, nor did I surrender to peer pressure to feel acceptable.  Instead I found myself reaching out to the disenfranchised in little ways.  As an adult I sponsored two children for a number of years through international ministries that help children and we donate to a refugee organization as well as our local homeless shelter that provides programs for getting these people integrated back into society.  Even my own blog posts, I realize, have been about reminding others, as well as myself, that we are helpless without God.

That's when it was brought home to me that in order to help the helpless I must first BE helpless--otherwise I will seek to help in my own strength and incur the same burnout Thoman did.  It is through my own helplessness that I call upon God's help.  It is HE who helps through me whenever I have indeed been helpful!

Father, thank you for helping me understand that I am living my life message whenever I acknowledge my helplessness to You and then am mindful of the work You are doing in and through me.

Link to Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:9

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