Will you help?

This issue has been weighing on my heart for months now, so here we go.

How far are you willing to go to help others? I think my initial instinct would be "I would do anything to help others." Then as I think about it more, I would have to say that I start to weigh my willingness to help everyone with the level of comfort I would need to give up. Does that make sense? I mean we are not all selling our homes and using every penny to help those in need, so there is a line drawn somewhere. If you agree with me, then the issue isn't about helping others-but more about our willingness to give up comfort!

So if someone needed you to hold the door open for them, not much comfort is being given up-5 seconds maybe, you would help them. I would guess that a high percentage of people would be willing to help someone in that way. What if someone needs you to help them start their car? Now the comfort level is getting a little higher. Time is a factor, is the person safe, can you really help them out, will I be late doing whatever is next, etc. All those comfort thoughts come into play when you make your decision to help. I am guessing that we are getting closer to a 50-50 chance of helping someone out. Most of us rationalize that we are already "good" people or "doing our part" with something else in our life-which allows us off the hook when we say "sorry I cant help you right now"! Is that rationale really something, or is it our way of justifying things?

So what is it about our comfort zone that determines what we are willing to do or not do. Were called to help the least of these, how does that work into our comfort determination? Everyone in need is someones mother or father, daughter or son, etc. Is this how we would want someone to respond to our mother who asked for help? Or even more the mother who has given up on asking others to help and doesn't know where to turn any longer?

What will it take to no longer allow our comfort meter to determine when, who, and how we help those in need around us. Do Christ followers look different than non believers when it comes to who lends a hand? I know what I would like that answer to be-just not sure that makes it true.

It makes me wonder if the Barna institute is correct that 85% of Americans would consider themselves Christians, if just a portion of them reached out and helped someone-wouldn't this country or our communities look different?

Next time you are asked for help......How will you respond?