Today, after church, I shared my open letter to the church blog post with the pastor. I was left with the feeling that this was my ministry, and that was great if it was what I felt called to. To a certain extent, I agree with him. It is a calling to be an advocate. But my question is, is it a calling to minister to the disabled and their families? Or is it something more?
To answer this, we need to look at Jesus' life. And at His words. I think it can be summed up in the one phrase "in what you have done for these, THE LEAST OF MY BRETHREN, you have done for Me." This is not a message given to a select few. This is not a case of one part of the body having a different purpose to another. Those callings are very individual, and God leads us each in the path He would have us follow. But, Jesus' words regarding THE LEAST OF THESE were given to ALL who profess to follow Him.
We can have the greatest of ministries, we can be reaching out to many. These things are great. These things are needed. But, if, in doing these things, we neglect THE LEAST OF THESE, we have neglected Christ Himself.
The Bible tells us we are known by our fruits. What do our actions tell us about what we are doing for Christ? What our actions telling others about what we are doing for Christ?
God may not have called you specifically to a ministry for the disabled, like He has me. But I can tell you now, that He HAS made our ACTIONS towards these, His precious children, the responsibility of every single Christian. If Jesus Himself were to return to Earth in a disabled body, would you be there for Him? Or would you walk out the door and tell Him you had more important things to do?
In a country where 98% of previously wanted babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome, are aborted, what are we doing to show the world that we are there for the families who choose life for their babies? We cannot decry their choices, when we are not going to personally be there for them. This can't be done on a case by case basis. Most people going down the abortion route don't exactly come to the church for advice! It needs to be so widely recognized that the church will be there for them that there is no question in their minds about it. This will only happen if it is so commonplace that everyone knows that the help they need is going to be there for them.
We are all individually responsible for how we treat THE LEAST OF THESE. How do YOU measure up?
Let's not spend our lives talking about living for Christ. Let's get out there and start living for Him.
