TOO HELPFUL?

Is it possible to be too helpful? Sometimes the way we want to help or ‘sort out’ someone else’s problems may not be what is actually needed. In forcing our own plan on others we can start getting in the way and becoming bossy. If the help we are giving is driven by our own feelings, we
may be just trying to help ourselves.

How then can we know if our kindness, interest and help to our friends and classmates is really showing God’s love? How can we keep putting others first, rather than just living by our own instincts? (PROVERBS 16:2; 21:2; 1 CORINTHIANS 4:5).

We can ask God to show us any ways we are hurting or controlling others (PSALM 139:23-24). We can ask God to help us show love that “suffers long and is kind . . . is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil” (1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-5). Our efforts to help others will never be completely free from insecurity and our own stresses. But we can, with God’s help, begin to love freely with no strings attached, as God Himself loves. And a good test is the way we react when our ‘helpfulness’ goes unnoticed (SEE LUKE 14:12-14)

To pray about . . .

Please help me, God, in all I do to act and think with love guided by You and what You teach in the Bible. Show me where I’m getting in the way or becoming bossy, so that I can step back and let You lead again.

IF WE WANT TO BE HELPFUL, LET’S MAKE SURE WE’RE LOVING OTHERS IN THE WAY GOD LOVES US.

YouTh Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries