A story is told of two women who were in desperate need of prayer while sick in the hospital. One said that her pastor never showed up, but he let her know he was praying for her; while the other said her pastor came, anointed her with oil, said a quick prayer and was gone in less than five minutes. She wondered why he had bothered coming in the first place if he was in such a hurry to leave.
This sad story got me thinking about how, as Christians, we’re often satisfied with fulfilling our Christian duty, even though we may not necessarily do it from the heart. And people are watching us. They can tell whether we’re genuine or not. Most importantly, God is watching and He isn’t going to applaud our lousy service, even if we did it in His Name.
It’s time to rise up. We need to be doers of the Word, and not hearers only (James 1:22). Don’t tell people you hope everything will be okay, if you’re capable of doing something to truly make things better for them. Stop asking people if there’s anything you can do to help, when their circumstances are clearly spelled out for you. We need to stop making excuses and make ourselves of more use.
Rising with the Son 