Last Tuesday (6-15-10), I got to thinking about how people go about helping other people, and the reasons and ways that they do it. Here's the epiphany like conclusion that I came to...
I think too much "ministry" is done with a hand "down" instead of a hand "out". The sad thing is most of us are not even aware of the difference and why it matters. It's subtle, but so important.
A hand "down" puts the helper in a position of arrogance, and the one being helped in a position of unspoken judgement and condemnation. A hand "out" puts both the helper and the helped on level ground before God; with the helper showing humility and the helped feeling a sense of acceptance that can only be a product of the grace of God being modeled to them in the moment they needed it the most.
The world doesn't need to see us as perfect. That's unattainable in their eyes; a goal that only brings more shame and unworthiness. However they need to see us being perfected by the Perfect One; the grace of God in motion. Now a life being changed from the inside out is something that's incredibly attractive to a lost and dying world.
When we approach people with humility instead of arrogance, we open lines of communication like never before.
