Proverbs 11:17, Genesis 1:26, Proverbs 3:27

Carl Belcher considers the importance of caring about others

Carl Belcher

Have you ever found yourself having one of those days where nothing seems to go right? No matter what you do, you end up starting to wonder if the whole world is conspiring against you and you feel like looking up to the heavens and shouting "AWE COME ON...GIMME A BREAK!!"

If you have, you're in good company. In these moments I often find myself inhaling deeply in the hope that by the time I've filled my lungs to the point of imminent explosion, I may just have mustered up enough self-control to stop my mouth from unleashing "unkindness".

However, I have recently found a much better approach to combatting the stress, frustration and hurriedness that these moments cause. Want to know the secret? Well, it's found in The Living Bible version of Proverbs 11:17:

"Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel".

The reason our soul is nourished is because we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:6). And because God has massive capacity for caring, therefore so do we. When we show concern, we feel like we are doing what we were actually created to do.

Now, I'm a keen motorcyclist and until a few years back I had a Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird. This was a whole lot of bike and was a dream to ride. However, it didn't particularly handle very well stuck in Lincoln City rush hour traffic trundling along at 5mph. Just like a caged tiger it was almost as if it was screaming at me to let it go! But once I'd got out onto the open Lincolnshire roads it roared into life, hugged the bends and performed exactly as the manufacture intended.

That's exactly how it is when we show concern and we care for others. When we allow ourselves to get cranky, hard hearted and stressed, our bodies and souls are screaming out like that tiger in the cage because that's just not what we were design to do. But when we stop and think about other people's needs before our own and we engage in their world and show care and concern, our souls resonate with God's affirmation, "that's my boy/girl! That's who I made you to be". We sense inner affirmation of who we are & what we've done.

Another one of my favourite proverbs that directs us to show care for others is Proverbs 3:27:

"Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act".

Firstly it is saying that some people might not deserve it. That's a bit harsh! Well...not really. You see, sometimes even when our intentions are spot on and we want to help, our particular intervention in a particular situation in someone's life might not help them in the long run. We can sometimes create an unhealthy dependence on us in other's lives, rather than empowering and supporting them to find solutions to help overcome their challenges themselves. For this we need to stay close to God and listen carefully to his voice. To know when to act and when to wait.

Secondly, the proverb says "...when it is in your power to act". This would mean that it is not always in our power to act. We may lack the ability, knowledge, time or other resource needed to help out and that's ok...really. We need to trust that God will line up someone else who does have the resource needed to provide the care needed. It may just be that you can provide the first link in the chain to help care for someone, but that God hasn't necessarily called you to provide every link!

So my prayer for you today is that you would allow God to inspire and prompt you to show care and kindness when it is in your power to act, that you would grow in trust when it is not and that your soul would be nourished when you do. Keep on caring!