By: Undre Griggs, Jr.
When trying to care and serve the needs of others above ourselves, we have to be honest about the difficulties we may face. It will not always be a pleasant experience when we make ourselves vulnerable by caring for another. Each person we interact with will not always have the purest intensions at heart. We may open ourselves up to be taken advantage of; or the reaction we receive is not what we were expecting. In a world where many take kindness as a sign of weakness; how many of us tend to think the worst about someone before we consider the best? Some may understand this to be a survival technique learned through personal trials; while others may have seen the way kindness was exploited in other people’s lives and decided it was not for them.
Galatians 6:9 (ESV): And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
We are called to be set apart from the world; we are expected to do and react in a way the world would mock and laugh at. We should not be discouraged by our mission; but we should wear it as a symbol of pride. It is easy to give up, but it is much harder to get up. Those who feel life has changed them in such a way that they have lost the joy of giving are people we should be concerned about; not people we should envy.
Matthew 13:30 (NIV): Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"
Our service to the world is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and until He returns. Our preference should be to work the fields of the Lord so that the wheat can grow; knowing that some weeds will grow as well. The other choice would be for us to allow the fields of the Lord to go unattended so that we do not have to encounter any weeds; knowing the wheat will go unattended as well. The reality is leaving the field unattended will create an environment for more weeds, not fewer. As we have seen in an abandoned home, the yard is full of overgrown weeds. The longer a yard is left unattended, the more weeds that grow through the grass as the grass continues to die. If we want to have a yard without weeds, we need to strengthen our grass so it can withstand the constant attacks. We need to fertilize the grass, cut the grass, and make sure it is getting proper sunlight. The field of the Lord is no different; if we want to limit the weeds, we need to nourish the wheat and provide it the nutrients it needs to grow.
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