When Love is Seen, the Message is Heard

“Whoever wants to be great, must be a servant” (Mark 10:43). Personally, I look at this passage and wonder if I am really great. Jesus was, is, and will always be great. He is our example of a servant. When we accept Jesus as our Lord we are to take on His likeness....being servants!

This article is about being a servant, not for greatness, but for the love of man that God has placed in our hearts. When we choose to open our hearts to God it is amazing what He reveals.

A few weeks ago I was hooking up a television in our kids’ playroom, when I came across a Christian channel. On the program they were interviewing people that were doing servant evangelism. I was getting interested in the program when a mom and her two girls were featured. At this point God grabbed me! The mom was putting together a box full of snack foods that the girls had decorated. Their goal was to go to the intensive care waiting room in the local hospital. There they would let the people in the waiting room know that it was for whoever needed a snack. This would also open up the door for them to go around the waiting room and pray with anyone that wanted it for themselves or loved ones.

Inspired by this story, my wife and I decided to do a similar outreach with our girls. It was near Christmas and I had a day off from work and the girls were out of school. We found a nice box and decorated it with Christmas scenes, it look great! We then added a card that said, “This box made with love, from our family to yours. Please help yourself. May you seek refuge in the Lord.”

I was supposed to have dinner ready for when my wife got home so that we could leave quickly after dinner and go straight to the hospital. You know how sometimes when you have great plans everything seems to go haywire? Well, that’s what seemed to happen this night. My wife’s car was having problems and after a tense hour or so trying to get it home I felt that we were running too late to go to the hospital. Not God. He thought it was perfect timing. The Lord didn’t let it go. I could feel Him saying “Jack, I need you to go”.

We arrived at the hospital about 8 p.m. Not knowing exactly what we were to do we prayed for God’s direction before we got out of the car. The first floor we stopped at didn’t look or feel right so we went to another floor. Still not knowing what to expect we walked into the waiting room and set down the box of goodies. To my surprise God had placed everyone right where He wanted them, me included. The first people we saw were two women in a corner. I walked up and introduced myself and my family and I asked them if they would like us to pray with them. They looked shocked, and with a very happy and surprising smile said, “Yes!” They told us that their parents had been in a very bad head-on collision. They were elderly folks in their late 80’s.

After visiting with them one of the ladies in the waiting room told us of another family that was in a different room; so away we went. This time a younger mom and her 11-year-old son were together. Again I introduced myself and family. She told us her husband had been in the hospital for over a week and a half. He had almost died. I asked her if we could offer some prayer, and she said yes. So we prayed with and for her. It was awesome.

Next I noticed a young man sitting alone. I could sense that he too was on God’s list, so we sat down with him and made introductions. I asked if he would like us to pray for him, and guess what? He said YES!!! He had been away at army boot camp and was home for the holiday season. His mother was in McCall playing in the snow and had a snow tubing accident that broke her back. I sensed that he was scared so we prayed for him and his mom.

I was asked by some people that we talked to if I was a pastor. When I said, “No, we are a Christian family just wanting to spread hope and joy to others,” they were amazed. Our younger daughter is ten years old. She said that she wanted to do this outreach again. This made me realize that kids naturally love to serve others and we as their parents need to help support that.

There are many other outreaches, organized or not, that you can do with your family. I think the main thing is to step outside of our comfort zone and experience God’s love, grace and compassion for ourselves and others. Quite often when people are scared or hurting they become isolated and they don’t seek help. But if we are open to God’s leading He can show us what He wants us to do. He may lead us to these very hurting people.

“If you give even a cup of water to the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded” (Mat 10:42).

by Jack, LeAnn, Erin and Kayla Methner

Wow! When Jack shared this story with me

I got so excited! I wanted to go pray with people “right now”! That’s why I’m sharing this story with you. Because “right now” happens all the time. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. People don’t light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

There are so many ways to “let you light shine”. The Lord said, “All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:35). It all starts with us loving.

Then He says, you were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10). Good works are simply practical expressions of love. As we love, good news is translated into deeds. It is good news when an alcoholic is set free from bondage; when a family is restored; when we adopt the fatherless and care for the abandoned and hopeless; and when we feed the homeless. The Holy Spirit gifts us with abilities and skills for us to love both the Christian and non-Christian. As a successful agent for change, there is nothing comparable to love. Its transforming power is beautifully real and miraculously effective.

A few weeks after hearing Jack’s story, Carrie Witt and I went to the hospital and had many opportunities to pray with friends. We think we may coin the term “elevator evangelism”, since we’ve had so much fun and opportunity to make friends, going to and from our destination.

When people see uncommon responses and experience unusual care and concern from others, they’ll start to ask, “Why?  Why do you care?” and then you have the opportunity to tell them about love, real love. Remember, we’re all under construction. God is daily building the foundation of our lives. Don’t wonder if you’ll ever be good enough­you are and you will be. Sharing love and friendship is not a special activity to be undertaken at a prescribed time. It is the constant and spontaneous outflow of our individual and corporate experience of Christ. Love is transferable. As we receive, we give, and love becomes contagious. The world listens when Christians love.

Meeting “felt needs” is often the key that unlocks the opportunity to share Christ. Last week we had such a sweet time with Feeding God’s Children ­ our weekly ministry to the homeless at Julia Davis Park. We prayed with quite a few people, and God touched their lives. I met Terry, a sweet older man that had been a junkie for seventeen years. He recently accepted Christ, was set free, and has now been clean for two weeks. God loves freedom! Terry was a former Vietnam Veteran, front line Marine, who fought for freedom for our country... and now he’s accepting the freedom God has for him. What a story. What a life. What a picture of God’s love for us! When you deal in basic needs, you’re always needed.

If you need help in knowing how to outreach or connect with others, feel free to contact me here at the Vineyard. We have on-going opportunities as a group or we can share ideas about individual opportunities. Feel free to pick up a Community Connections brochure at the Outreach Counter in the foyer and also log on to www.vineyardboise.org (outreach & evangelism). Your comments and ideas are always welcome. 

Reach out and touch someone. It’s God’s idea.