Show the Gospel to the Hurting

 
 
How many times have you heard, "Share the Gospel with the unsaved"? A bazillion? Now how often do you hear, "Show the Gospel to the hurting in your church, in your community, in your world?

Share spells words. Show takes action.

An example: Pulling up to a red light, Kate noticed a young man holding a homemade sign. It read, "HOMELESS. NEED FOOD. PLEASE HELP." The icy wind reddened his hands. She knew what she had to do, even though it inconvenienced her. She drove to a store, bought men's gloves and returned to the sign holder. She rolled down her window and handed them to him.

And she prayed for his mother.

Kate, too, has a grown son. Addicted to drugs. Sleeping somewhere. She couldn't warm her own child but she could show Jesus to a stranger.

Debbie Macomber shares this true story in her book One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity. A sister in Christ and bestselling fiction author, she understands. She's dyslexic and her third grade teacher told her mother, "She'll never do well in school." And she didn't.

But her love of words and her parent's encouragement, and later her husband's, gave her the boost to sign up for a writers' conference in New York. Today she has more than 100 copies of her books in print.

As many of you know I have a heart for hurting Christian women. I want them to find hope and healing, to be all who God made them to be. Some women I counsel by phone or webcam, others in person. I also have two blogs. Real Hurts, Real Hope has the tagline "offering hope to Christian women who hurt and to the people who love them." I like the last part: and to the people who love them. We each know someone who needs a hug, a prayer, a safe place to cry.

I thank God for the opportunity to encourage you here at Counselors' Coach. 

My second blog The Sisterhood of Beautiful Warriors boasts this tagline: Arise! You can change your world because Christ has changed you. Arising in God's power results when He heals your hurts, when you heal the hurts of others in Jesus' name through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

One women I e-counsel -- whom I'll call Sandy, not her real name -- spied a bag lady dumpster diving for scraps behind a fast-food joint. She maneuvered her car from the drive-thru lane and into a parking spot. Sandy bought two lunches, one for herself and one for the lady. She handed one bag of food to the lady. She said, "I don't want your food. I don't take no charity." Sandy put the bag of food next to the dumpster and walked back to her car, glancing backward to see what the lady would do.

She took the food.

Now Sandy and the lady have a game of sorts. Sandy places food by the dumpster when she sees the lady and the lady eats. Sandy shows Jesus.

This simple act of generosity reveals Jesus to a lady and to a hurting world.

This Thanksgiving (and everyday) you can show Jesus too, like Kate, like Sandy, like the little boy who gave his little lunch to a big Jesus who multiplied it and fed 5,000 men and probably as many women and children.

The little boy witnessed a big miracle because he willingly gave what he had and received so much more. Besides the account of Jesus' resurrection, this is the only miracle in all four Gospels. The Holy Spirit inspired the Gospel writers to repeat it four times so you and I would get a message. (I need the repetition.)

While so much could be said, this is what I take away. Be generous. Show Jesus. Give thanks. You belong to Someone big.

Keep your "showings" simple unless God nudges you to do something more. Open the door for a stranger, say "Thank You" to a cashier, pray for someone at church (not later, but right then, right there). Chat with a neighbor. Hand a cup of coffee to a Salvation Army bell ringer. Give gloves to a cold person. Buy lunch for a hungry lady. Play checkers with your dad. Tell your mom you love her. Tuck a dollar under your grandchild's pillow. 

Sponsor a child in poverty through World Vision for $30 a month. You won't miss the money. I promise. 

Show the Gospel, my sister. A hurting world is watching.  

"Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased" (Hebrews 13:16 NIV).