Anybody else just get overwhelmed?
I mean, I can get overwhelmed in just my one tiny little life. But ever since God blew off my blinders a few months ago, it’s been getting harder to sleep. ISIS, sex trafficking, homelessness, abortion, poverty, racism.
And that’s the world in general. There’s stuff happening to people I know and love too: cancer, marriages hanging on by a thread, marriages that have already failed, debt, infertility, miscarriages, disabilities, broken family relationships, unemployment, addiction.
The whole world is in pain. And most of the time, it feels like there’s nothing I can do about it.
Helplessness is just one tiny step away from hopelessness. And a codependent fixer/caretaker like myself can get sucked into that vacuum fast, if I’m not careful.
Here’s where I go wrong: I zoom way out and look at the problem instead of the person.
I’ll see a homeless person on the sidewalk and am immediately depressed and start whining to myself. “There are so many suffering homeless people and there’s nothing I can do about it. I want to build them all houses. Take them all home. Get them all jobs. Fix all their lives. But I can’t.” And I walk away feeling discouraged and guilty.
I think if I can’t fix EVERYTHING, I must not be able to fix ANYTHING.
If I can’t help EVERYONE, I probably can’t help ANYONE.
And then worst of all:
What difference could helping one person make? Is it even worth the time and effort?
This is where Jesus stands up and waves His BS flag. (Figuratively speaking, of course.) These are all lies. Lies well supported by reason, practicality and efficiency. But lies nonetheless.
If you take a look at Jesus’s ministry, you won’t find a whole lot of reason, practicality or efficiency. He didn’t look at numbers, stats, probabilities, majorities or generalities. He didn’t try to plan His days, His miracles and His ministry to get the most bang for His buck.
This God in man flesh could have instantly healed masses. (To be honest, it kinda drives me crazy that He didn’t.) For example, the pool at Bethesda was surrounded by “a great number of disabled people.” He could have stood in the middle of the courtyard and yelled, “Attention, everyone! Be healed!” And that great number would have walked away happy and healthy.
But not Jesus. He zeroed in on one. Got down in the guy’s face, asked his story, connected with him and healed him. To be fair, we know He did a lot more in His lifetime than is recorded in scripture. But it’s interesting to see what God hand picked to be His statement to the world for all time.
All throughout the gospels you see this. Healing one person at a time. Ministering to one person at a time. There were a couple outliers of feeding 5,000 and feeding 4,000. One time He healed a group of nine lepers.
But by and large, it wasn’t by and large. It was one person at a time. One story at a time. One life at a time. One soul at a time.
He was the only person who ever lived who could have ministered to EVERYONE, even in the same moment, if He had wanted to. So why didn’t He?
I think because part of the reason He was here was to show us how it’s done. And He knew that most of us wouldn’t be in the position to help in grand sweeping gestures. So He modeled a strategy for us that we are capable of. And then called us to it.
Even the language He used should be freeing to us. He said in several gospels to ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ Not neighbors. Neighbor. Singular. Does He mean I only have to love one person as myself? Of course not. But one at a time sounds a lot less intimidating. ‘Love one another’ is another phrase He used (John 13). Notice that beautiful word ‘one’ hiding in there.
In Luke 15, the Pharisees are giving Jesus a hard time (something they did regularly) for hanging out with shady people (something He did regularly). Jesus gives the example of the shepherd leaving 99 of his sheep to go find one that is missing and rejoicing greatly with his friends when he finds it.
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Ninety-nine percent is not enough for Jesus. He cares about every. Single. ONE.
Brad often scopes out ministries for possible grants from the foundation he works for and recently visited a home for women coming out of sex trafficking. They’re getting help, they’re getting healed, they’re getting another chance at life. He was telling me all about it and I was immediately moved, compelled to do something to help.
“How many people can live there?” I asked. “Four,” he answered. I sighed and shook my head, knowing the statistics of that issue here in Orlando. “That’s not enough,” I said to nobody in particular. He looked at me and said thoughtfully, “It is if you’re one of those four. Or if your daughter is one of those four.” When he was there, he didn’t see numbers. He saw faces.
I wonder how many opportunities I’ve missed because I really didn’t think that helping one person would make a dent in the darkness of this world. How quickly I forget that I have been (and will likely again be) that one person whose life was changed by one other person who thought I was worth the time, effort and love.
We’re not called to help EVERYBODY. (Self: Pay attention.) We CAN’T help everybody. But God will put people in front of us, often just one at a time, with a need that we can meet, a gift that we can give. And that one gesture to that one person could change their entire story.
Every single life, every single soul desperately matters. Including mine. Sometimes God calls people in big groups to go help big groups of others. But I would venture to say most of the time, He calls an individual to love another individual.
We are called to carry light into a dark world. I think I’ve been wandering around, looking for the light switch that would turn on the floodlights over a largest possible area. I’ve forgotten about this little light of mine, the tiny votive in my hand.
I could take what little I have right now and offer it to someone else today. If they accept my love, my gift, my ministry to them, there will be twice as much light. The trajectory of that one person’s life will shift slightly. But over time that slight shift in direction could become a massive life change. And God alone knows the impact that could have.
Matthew West has a powerful song about this principle called One Less. The line he repeats that haunts me in my helplessness is, “There’s one less broken heart in the world tonight.”
That sounds so worth it to me.
God may have the whole world in His hands. But He has every individual story in His heart. He doesn’t see broad swaths of good versus evil on the planet. He knows the number of hairs on each head, the memories of each soul and the desire of every heart. And each one desperately matters to Him.
I can’t cure cancer. But I can go sit with my buddy while she gets a chemo treatment. I can’t eliminate world hunger or homelessness, but I can give a snack and a smile to the guy on the corner of Mills and Colonial. I can’t save someone’s marriage, treat someone’s addiction or offer anyone a job. But I can show up in their lives as a representative of the One who came to give eternal life and unending hope.
As long as I’m breathing, I can love. Whoever God puts in my path is worthy of my energy, ministry and love.
So now that my blinders are off, Lord, be Thou my vision. Teach me to see a person, not a problem. A story, not a snafu. A child of God, not a challenge.
I can’t do EVERYthing. But every day, I can do SOMEthing.
The greatest of these is love. And love wins.
