When Helping Hurts

Roman 12:6-8 Message Bible

 ^6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

God gave me a heart that seeks to help others. Through the years and from scripture I have learned that my desire to help others doesn’t give me the right to plan, orchestrate, or decide for others. I can state facts and lessons I’ve learned in my life and let them know I love them no matter what they choose, but the bottom line is they have to choose and do for themselves.

Herein lays my biggest struggle, to share when I’m asked to or led by the Holy Spirit and then release the outcome to God, especially with those I love. Even when I can see their choices will bring pain, I have to love and support them and allow them to learn, grow, and develop trust in God and themselves. I will cripple them when I interfere with their learning path and in the end hurt them instead of helping them.

God gave each of us the power to choose. As we grow and mature, we realize the responsibility, power, and opportunities that come with it. God calls each of us to Him but many of us choose:

• ·         The rebel road - all on my own
• ·         The glimmering road- that hides Satan’s potholes and decay we fall into
• ·         The familiar road -we wander around continually to avoid the fear of the unknown
• ·         Or we seek God and He shows us the road He built just for us

We often choose to walk many roads throughout our life’s journey to discover who we are with and without Christ. Every mile marker forward builds our faith and illuminates the fact that we cannot find completion, unconditional love, and acceptance apart from God. When we turn to scripture as our GPS, we discover the wisdom in God’s guidelines are clear and humbling. Without these boundaries we go to extremes and end up hurting people or messing up the situation more. Do what you can for yourself and others and give the rest to God.

Have you hurt anyone with what you perceived as help?