Doing More than is Asked
I have several friends at our church and around the country that I know would help me, if I ever had to ask. That is a great comfort, when we have friends like that. In fact, with many of those friends I am confident that if I did ask them for some help, they would do even more than I asked. That is the kind of people they are. I believe that is God's will for every Christian. He wants us to go above and beyond to help other people and show them the unconditional love of Christ. When Paul was inspired to write the short letter of Philemon, that is the confidence he had in his brother in Christ. (Philemon 21) He was writing on behalf of Philemon's run away slave, Onesimus. He was requesting that Philemon welcome him back home, because Paul had led him to the Lord, so now he was more than a slave. He was a Christian brother. Paul was asking for Philemon to have mercy, and he was confident Philemon would do even more than he was asking. I pray others would always have that same confidence in us.
This attitude of doing more than we are asked to do just doesn't happen. It comes from us being changed by the Holy Spirit at salvation. It comes from a desire He puts in our hearts and a thankfulness which we have for what the Lord has done for us. Therefore, if we are right with the Lord, we will always do more than what others are asking. However, there is one things that is even more important than that. We must decide, as believers, to do more than what the Lord asks us to do, too. Unfortunately, it seems that some Christians think that being saved from our sins is enough, so we can slack on doing all the other things God has for us. We don't pray, read the Bible, go to church, and witness to others as He commands. This is a very damaging sin. It breaks our close fellowship with God, and it causes us to be a bad witness to those who are lost. Christians are to be different from all of the non-Christians, and this ought to be one of the main differences. While the people of this world are just doing enough to get by, we should be doing more than what is asked or expected. That will really make a positive impression on our world.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Hebrews 1-3.