I work in an environment of forced care….
I work with police as their chaplain and they work in an environment of forced care. No matter what call those officers are sent to, they are forced to provide care to victims of theft, vehicle accidents, homicides, personal assaults, domestic violence...…you get the idea. Wherever they go they are supposed to be at 100%, providing excellence in care and law enforcement services. Regardless of who they find when they get out of their car, they are charged with a professional oath to provide respect and dignity to whomever needs assistance, because their profession demands a culture of helping others. That is a pretty tall order especially since, at best, only a fraction of law enforcement officers are professing believers in Jesus Christ.
So that makes me want to ask, “Do believers live with an attitude that we are forced to care?” Why should we as children of God wrestle with this issue about aiding someone or anyone other than myself or my family? Who do I have to care for in regard to my Christian faith? Do I have options?”
This little blog really shouldn’t be an opinion piece…. it is not my call. God’s Word is the authority on how believers interrelate with the church family, our families and even how to act and react to the non-Christians we deal with on a daily basis. Here are a few principles from the Word of God that provide honest, measurable and attainable objectives for caring believers.
Confidence in the Christian Experience
Caring for one another is founded on the life altering, love relationship with Christ. John 13:34-35 says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
Exercise and Perfect Your Caring by Practicing Your Testimony in Service to Your Family
Many times I have failed to demonstrate my love and Christian experience with my family because I was too busy being the pastor, chaplain, youth leader or active church supporter instead of the father or husband to my family that needed to see God’s love and compassion through my ministry to them and their needs. What good am I if I do many wonderful things for the others but neglect the spiritual needs of my precious loved ones? Live out your faith first to the ones you live with, then expand the love and care you are perfecting to those in the family of faith.
Caring is a Choice
I have to wrestle with and choose to put other’s best interest before my own. Our human nature cry’s out, “Me First!” Romans 12:10 instructs and praises those who will, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
Caring Helps Share the Load
Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” I took a massive hit and was knocked out in a football game in high school. When I came to and they were ready to take me off the field, two of my team mates, one on each side of me, shouldered my weight so I could hobble off the field with their help. And that is the implication of that verse; believers helping to carry the weight of other believers to get them to the next point in their spiritual walk. Caring brings people further along in the Christian experience.
Caring Goes Above and Beyond Minimum Requirements
Caring invokes a proactive drive to help support your Christian brothers and sisters. We, as believers go beyond toleration, we go beyond sibling spats, we are pushed and driven by the Spirit of God to, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). Doing good to one another brings forgiveness with it. Because even when we are trying to do good things (and often in our own way) there can be adverse or detrimental effects of good intentions. Caring for believers includes the spirit of forgiveness in action all the time, not just when you feel like it.
The Last Word
Caring is acknowledging Jesus in common place activities of life as we walk through the day and affect those we meet. Matthew 25:40 emphasizes Christian acts of caring when Jesus says in the scripture, "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” Those people being talked about in the scripture story that Jesus was talking about, didn’t realize that the positive things they were doing were actually things focused on God. They did those things, those deeds, those actions because of the underlying joy they had (because of their faith in God). So your acts of compassion, caring, burden sharing, people favoring above self, family loving, shared confidence in your faith in Christ…mean you are doing it to Jesus!
Think about that and enjoy living it, Amen!
Rev. Mark Bardsley, Chaplain, Marion Police Department