Do you want God to help in some particular way? Seek the welfare of another. It’s not a simple matter of paying your dues, because God is hardly reducible to a slot machine. He’s keeping an eye on you, and if you take seriously His command to love your neighbor as yourself, He will meet your needs. It won’t much matter the mechanism He chooses; the principle is reliable whether you consider yourself born-again or not. That’s the Covenant of Noah. When you need something, give something. If you become a giver by reflex, your needs are met. Guaranteed — written on the rainbow.
Personal example: My wife needed to talk last night. It was spiritual stuff; she needed a sounding board to confirm what she was sensing. Her welfare is my welfare. It wasn’t a chore, because it was interesting to discuss. In the middle of that, the Lord inspired me with an answer to a query of my own. No one has to explain the dynamics to me. By putting myself aside, stopping what I was doing and giving her my full attention, I filled my own needs. It is not possible to separate my needs from hers in marriage; the union is organic in nature. When I embrace that, act on it, God supplies.
I have been puzzling over why I feel so burdened to go Downtown and spend time. I had wanted to do so this past Monday, but I something else arose. Besides, my bike was not quite suitable for long rides like that. I needed something to elevate the handlebars enough to take some pressure off my hands and arthritic shoulders. The part I ordered arrived yesterday — a couple of days earlier than promised — but I still wasn’t sure what I would do Downtown, aside from walking around and praying.
It’s part of the bigger question regarding the next ministry pursuit. I knew some time ago it was something about the urban setting, much to my dismay. I prefer the rural setting. Still, once I took my sign downtown, I was seized by a desire to be there as much as possible. For whom, I did not know; there was nothing concrete, and I find most modern ministry training about “target audience” is a corruption of the New Testament practices. When I received such training at college, it felt somehow wrong, even though it made sense intellectually. At that time I was unaware of the vast gulf between Western logic and biblical logic. At any rate, I had no idea how to filter out the possibilities, so I could not think of an obvious course of action to match.
Earlier in the day, I had realized a very significant part of what I have been doing is very much in the way of pastoral counseling. Indeed, it’s at least half of what I’ve done since the Lord called me to ministry at age 16. In case you haven’t been enlightened, this is not some glorified social work, because the divine version is more about sensing what God is up to in that person’s life, at least insofar as I can contribute. It’s mostly listening and asking useful questions, but it’s also a large degree of expressing confidence in God’s ability to answer anything and everything. Sometimes all they need is a little hope. Having walked through the Dark Valley of the Shadow of Death myself all too many times, I can affirm surrender is not an option. This sort of work became rather large in my mind during the day.
So I applied myself to my wife’s need for a listening ear. Then it hit me.
I’m going to letter another t-shirt. On the front, it will say, “Street Pastor.” Now, I realize that’s not a unique phrase. I am hardly of the sort to even appreciate the style of that young fellow using that title to promote his Gospel Hip Hop recordings. Nor would I care to ape the glorified social workers for which the Church of England uses it, where men and women do little more than escort home youngsters suffering from a night of partying in the pubs and clubs. There is nothing really wrong with their work itself, but I won’t be carrying water bottles and cheap shower shoes. Indeed, I may end up doing nothing but sitting around on public benches nodding at folks who smile — or snicker — about the message on the t-shirt. Still, I find it a safe assumption, based on past experience, God will selectively move folks by that label to consider the sorts of things they might discuss with a pastor. I’m quite certain a major element in doing any good is being there consistently. I’m guessing for now that would mean mostly catching folks at lunch or on break, so initial planning is to ride out from home to arrive mid-morning.
I won’t accomplish a thing without the loving and prayerful support of my beloved wife. Without carrying my share of the load, I can hardly justify that support. So it is in this world for all of us. There are plenty of people we should stay away from on very good grounds; we don’t need to raise any unnecessary barriers. God is watching. If we can’t reach out to another person with some expression of support and respect, we deserve none from God.
