Recently I was getting ready to go for a dinner party when I realised that a piece of my jacket that I was wearing was missing. Though it was unfashionably late, I did not want to leave without that piece because the jacket looked incomplete without it.
After 15 minutes of searching, I was just about to give up when I realized that I hadn’t prayed about it. I closed my eyes and the first scripture that came to my mind was John 14:16 – “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another HELPER, that He may be with you forever;”
So as I prayed, I asked the Holy Spirit for help and within 15 seconds I found what I was searching for! I then thanked the Holy Spirit for being my HELPER, but as I said the word ‘HELPER’, I felt guilty. Holy Spirit is God Himself and not in any way ‘less’ than the Father or Jesus, and so calling Him helper felt little uncomfortable.
I then searched my Bible to find references for the word ‘helper’ and I came across Genesis 2:18 [The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a HELPER suitable for him.”]
I then revisited John 14:16 and saw that Jesus implies that He himself is a helper because He refers to the Holy Spirit as ‘ANOTHER helper’.
Helper is the one who is stronger!
This made me realize that the image of a helper that I had in my mind could not be right because the best things in my life i.e. Jesus, the Holy Spirit and my life partner -all were referred to as ‘helpers’.
I had subconsciously thought that a helper was someone inferior or unskilled. However, it is exactly the opposite. Being a helper is never small or demeaning. In fact, if there is a burden that we cannot lift, we always seek the help of a person STRONGER than ourselves and not lesser or weaker. For instance, if we are ‘down’, we need the help of someone who is ‘up’ or if you are finding yourself spiritually weak, you need the help of someone who is on fire for the Lord!
A helper doesn’t come from a place of weakness, but from a place of strength.
Look at the life of Jesus Himself, the greatest example before us. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus says: I came not to be served, but to serve!
Wow! Serving others is the greatest calling of a believer’s life because Christ himself came to serve!
Helping in the body of Christ
Hebrews 6:10 says God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
In other words, just as the Holy Spirit is our helper, we are called to help God’s people, that is the body of Christ.
There are so many needs in the church today, how much are we ready to help?
I remember in my earlier days, I used to avoid church duties like the plague! And I often felt smart and bragged about how I escaped it all with my crafty excuses. But God changed my heart and made me realise that I need the body of Christ, as much as the body of Christ needs me.
Often times we tell ourselves “Oh! There are enough people to do the job”, “The church will manage without me!” or “The Lord will take care of it”.
Imagine if the Holy Spirit responded the same way in our times of need?
Listen dear reader, you have a place that nobody else can take, you have a calling that is designed specifically for you and all of creation is waiting for you to respond to this calling. The question is: Will you rise to the occasion?
Be sensitive to the needs of your church – those that can be seen, and those that can’t. Put others above yourself. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too ( Philippians 2:4). Pick up the cloth and wipe those chairs, encourage somebody, give that glass of water to someone, volunteer to help in the children’s ministry – do something!
The body of Christ needs helpers. Would you be one?