Praying without really caring for others is a waste of words. As we pray, simultaneously we should care for them by doing our best to help them spiritually, emotionally or simply arranging for food and shelter when needed, then we should pray. As Christianity charges believers with the obligation of caring for the suffering of others, and what could be worse than not reaching out and learning someone you knew committed suicide?
Suicide can be thought of as a mental illness often manifested because of severe depression. Consider these telling statistics of the USA population:
In 2021 more than 47,600 people in the USA died of suicide.
More than 12.2 million adults seriously dwelled on suicide
More than 3.2 million adults made plans to commit suicide
More than 1.2 million adults attempted suicide
The number of suicides in 2021 was still lower than the all-time high of 48,000 plus in 2018.
The rate of men committing suicide was 3.9 times the female rate.
Note: These figures do not reflect children—as their privacy is protected in most government reports. Age-specific suicide rates begin with age group ten to fourteen because determining suicidal intent in children under age ten is difficult. Consequently, very few deaths are classified as suicides for people under age ten.
Every day more than 130 people in America commits suicide. How many of them, would you guess, knew the Lord, or had someone really care about their well being?
With those gruesome statistics, there is room for those people who care, to care for the people in desperate need of help and loving attention. Not Christian people who will turn away from the needy, but persons who are genuinely concerned about the well being of other human beings. God is looking for people, such as us, to save lives, to assist with showing the path to salvation, and to make a huge difference in this world and the next. One instance of a caring touch can create a ripple of Christian love that can, in turn, touch thousands and thousands of lives. All you have to do is start your own individual ripples. Now it is true you may not see how your generated caring ripples expand or how many others are positively affected—but they will!
Eva Jo was strolling absentmindedly along a big city sidewalk moving away from her downtown university campus with a small tote bag of groceries. The gnarly fingers of depression were deepening their grip on her mind about her depressing circumstances. The rent was due and the cost of next semester's books seemed astronomical and to make matters worse, her waitress tips last night could only be tabulated as meager.
The ever skyward-reaching buildings reminded her of a recent Bible lesson about the Tower of Babel. When a wandering flyspeck of soot lodged into her eye, her feet stumbled a step or two in the street's crosswalk. Suddenly her foot struck the oncoming curb and poor Eva Jo and her vegetables, eggs, and canned goods tumbled to the ground.
Kneeling in a circle of laughing teenage boys, Eva Jo hurriedly gathered up all that was salvageable and tried not to look up at those who were mocking her. Years ago, she had learned the art of drowning out such taunting laughter. All she wanted to do was pickup her stuff, and move away from there as soon as possible.
As she reloaded her tote bag, she realized that an unbeckoned young man had come to assist. She smiled shyly at his unwelcome intervention, but said not a word. After tossing the half-dozen container of eggs in a nearby trash can, she adjusted her loaded tote and set out again.
Three years passed and Eva Jo was at her graduation ceremony. Since she had earned the prestigious honor of being named Summa Cum Laude, she was asked to speak to and on the behalf of her graduating class.
Eva Jo spoke articulately about the challenges of the near future and the hardships of the last four years. But one particularly depressing moment stood out. She said one day she was going home while thinking of suicide when she tripped on a curb and a group of teenage boys laughed at her in a mean spirited way. However, while she was picking up her stuff, a young man stopped laughing, shushed the group, and for no reason assisted her in helping to gather up her scattered belongings. That, she said, was when I recognized that there were still good people in this world who cared for strangers.
“Ever since that mundane chance encounter,” she said, “instead of concentrating on the depressing things of life, I have tried to do one or more good deeds each and every day. Sometime I was lucky and was able to do several.”
The tally of the ripples that one unnamed young man started can never be known. Initially, and in an indirect manner, he may have saved Eva Jo's life, which is no small thing in and of itself. But only God could know the blessed results of all the good deeds Eva Jo accomplished before and after graduating as a nurse. The ripple effects of good deeds spreads further than the doer can ever imagine. What are the types of ripples you make?
Six thousand years ago, one man and his wife, both blessed with eternal life, made a fatal mistake, a sin against God. That single sin passed a death sentence on them and every human thereafter. The ripples of the justified penalty for that misguided sin are still felt today. Fortunately, the ripples produced by sin can be removed by another baby born 4000 years later. That child became to be known as the Messiah, a man called Jesus the Christ.
Shouldn't we all be driven to do more good deeds by the Biblical evidence of the ways Christ cared for strangers?
Luke 6:6-10 reports that Jesus dared to heal a man on the Sabbath Day. On another Sabbath day, Jesus went into the synagogue and taught the people. A man with a crippled right hand was there. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely. They were waiting to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, which they would have considered to be work. They wanted to see him do something wrong so that they could accuse him. But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said to the man with the crippled hand, “Get up and stand here where everyone can see.” The man got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is the right thing to do on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do evil? Is it right to save a life or to destroy one?”
Jesus looked around at all of them and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it was healed.
Now this essay is about “The Outward Ripples of Caring,” but previously I wrote “The Outward Ripples of Sin.” We all know how the outward ripples of sin were stirred up by the Pharisees, for we read in the very next verse of Luke chapter 6, “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law got so mad they couldn’t think straight. They talked to each other about what they could do to Jesus.”
As Jesus traveled, he healed hither and yon. Matthew 9:20-22 gives evidence of a woman demonstrating tremendous faith. On the way, there was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She came close behind Jesus and touched the bottom of his coat. She was thinking, “If I can touch his coat, I will be healed.”
Jesus turned and saw the woman. He said, “Be happy, dear woman. You are made well because you believed.” Then the woman was healed.
Please take note, Jesus never physically touched her, nor did she. He did not say, “In the name of God, I heal you.” His mere words of “Be happy, dear woman” were enough. The point being, “your caring words of kindness” can often be decisively fateful in improving the life of another person. Be a friend, have a caring heart for neighbors and strangers alike.
Here are but just a few of the Bible verses about caring for the surrounding strangers.
Hebrews 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” That chapter was recorded to demonstrate the context of “brotherly love.” Which, if continually practiced, even among the strangers or homeless in our midst could be angels. Be they angels, or more likely not, neglecting them by not showing basic hospitality by caring is to forsake God himself. Consider that a moment—would you be inhospitable to God or His blessed angels?
Leviticus 25:35-36 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he (or she) shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.”
God's New and Old Testament Laws task us to extend kindness and mercy to those outside of our direct relatives and neighbors. We are to treat strangers, homeless or not, in the same way—with caring kindness.
Jeremiah 22:3 “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
The Prophet Jeremiah knew the law very well and understood that justice and righteousness applied to everyone, no matter whether they’re an Israelite or a stranger living in or traveling through their nation. The “resident alien”, in the context of this verse, is someone that has chosen to live under the Mosaic law of God and as such deserves all the privileges the Israelites share. Because there is no partiality with God, this verse says there should be no double-standard between strangers and the Israelites. Romans 2:11 reinforces this thought by stating, “God judges everyone the same. It doesn’t matter who they are.”
Matthew chapter 25 is one of the most descriptive of all the works about what the Body of Christ and the church are supposed to do. The Son of Man Will Judge All People. Verses 31-35 say, “The Son of Man will come again with divine greatness, and all his angels will come with him. He will sit as king on his great and glorious throne. All the people of the world will be gathered before him. Then he will separate everyone into two groups. It will be like a shepherd separating his sheep from his goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the king will say to the godly people on his right, ‘Come, my Father has great blessings for you. The kingdom he promised is now yours. It has been prepared for you since the world was made. It is yours because when I was hungry, you gave me food to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I had no place to stay, you welcomed me into your home.
All this describes the caring ministries that the church and all Christians should endeavor to emulate. This includes visiting those troubled souls in prison and those who are sick. Give needed clothing and feed the poor, but also display kindness to strangers and make them feel welcome. To the point of caring for those you do not even know. Did you have the means and the Christian driven heart to share God's blessings showered on you to those in need from the devastating effects of the floods in Kentucky, the tornadoes in Northern Alabama, or the horrendous hurricane damage in Florida? It is never too late to start or do more than you shared before.
Verse 40 tells us, Jesus wants us to see it as this; “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” This means that what we do for strangers we are doing it for Christ Himself.
There are Old Testament Scriptures, one after another, that speak to how we are to act towards needy strangers who come into our proximity. We should treat them kindly as equals, not inferiors, but greet and treat them in the very same ways you would everyone else you consider a friend. For God, established that there should only be one set of law and that being the same for known residents and the same for the stranger. God hates hypocrisy that engages in double-standards of treatment or justice.
Much like what Moses wrote in Exodus chapter 12; the same rules should apply for and to everyone. It doesn’t matter if they are friends or foreigners living among you. There should be the same rules for everyone, resident or alien. There shouldn’t be more lax rules or favorable laws for those who are native Israelites and then another set of rules for the sojourners or strangers that are not equal across all applications. God shows this equality by His saying to all humanity, “I am the Lord your God.” When God sees favoritism, He does not like it and considers it a sin.
Couldn't and wouldn't we all shout “Hallelujah!” if our current governmental system of justice worked the same way for all? Fair and equal justice of all! Not just the party in power?
One of the New Testament messages of particular intrigue is how Jesus cared for the downtrodden. In the story of the paralyzed man, as recounted in Luke 5, Jesus healed the man. Paraphrasing the text, it said: One day Jesus was teaching the people. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, too. They had come from Galilee, Judea, and from Jerusalem. The Lord was giving Jesus the power to heal people.
Luke paints with his descriptive words a moment in time that represents a group of men on a mission. A mission to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They tried to bring him over to place down before Jesus. But there were so many people in the crowd around the house that they could not find a passageway inside. So they went up the outside-stairs to the roof and lowered the crippled man down through a hole they fashioned through the roof. They lowered the mat into the room so that the crippled man was presented before Jesus. Jesus saw how much faith they had and said to the sick man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
The Jewish teachers of the law and the Pharisees thought to themselves, “Who is this man who dares to say such things? What an insult to God! No one but God can forgive sins.”
But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you have these questions in your minds? The Son of Man has the power to forgive sins. But how can I prove this to you? Maybe you are thinking it was easy for me to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ There’s no proof that it really happened. But what if I say to the man, ‘Stand up and walk’? Then you will be able to see that I really have this power.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, stand up! Take your mat and go home!”
The man immediately stood up in front of everyone. He picked up his mat and walked home, praising God. Everyone was completely amazed and began to glorify God. They were filled with great respect for God’s power. They said, “Today we saw amazing things!”
Those men on the roof had sought a way to Jesus. Since they could not enter by one means, they chose another way that was quite unorthodox. (No pun intended? Well maybe?) The main point is they did not give up. That was because they cared, truly cared, and showed Christian-like actions where others might not have. Those men did not waste time discussing how he became paralyzed. They did not seek to determine the past cause of his health problem. Nor did they debate if Jesus would heal him. They sought to help the man that very day in the situation he was in. Over and over again, the bible writers paint pictures of people who cared and sought desperately to obtain Jesus’ help.
After this, Jesus went out and saw Levi (Matthew) sitting at his place collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me!” So the tax-collector got up, left everything and followed Jesus.
Later, Matthew gave a big dinner at his house for Jesus. At the table, there were many tax collectors and some other people too. But the Pharisees and those who taught the law for the Pharisees began to complain to the followers of Jesus, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and other sinners?”
Jesus answered them, “It is the sick people who need a doctor, not those who are healthy. I have not come to ask good people to change. I have come to ask sinners to change the way they live.”
Within those brief words, it is distinctly easy to see that Jesus was teaching and people were gathered around him for various reasons from every town. There were some seeking to see a miracle. Some had come to be healed. Of course, evil men like the Pharisees and false prophets had come to wage their wits against His, and to trap Him in some discrediting way. All of these different people gathered in one place for various reasons. Yet Jesus did not expel anyone, he welcomed them all.
So often, when a person needs our help, we want to delve into the why's, where's, and when's of their personal situation. But is that person's history really important? No!
What is needed when there is a situation at hand, is that the problem needs to be dealt with. Now! Not tomorrow, or worse, some unspecified time in the distant future. Many see the solution as saying a quick prayer for the person and maybe a word of encouragement or a pat on the back. Hey, if the prayer is not answered, and the problem not resolved in a scant amount of time, we might think—that the person does not have enough faith.
The faith of the person of concern is not in question! Our faith, yours or mine, and our acts of caring or not caring enough are the ones that will be measured. Measured and found lacking or measured and found deserving of rewards in heaven.
James speaks to both viewpoints of this discussion. Here, from the ERV, are his chapter 2 verses 15 through 26. Suppose a brother or sister in Christ comes to you in need of clothes or something to eat. And you say to them, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you don’t give them the things they need. If you don’t help them, your words are worthless. It is the same with faith. If it is just faith and nothing more—if it doesn’t do anything—it is dead.
But someone might argue, “Some people have faith, and others have good works.” My answer would be that you can’t show me your faith if you don’t do anything. But I will show you my faith by the good I do. You believe there is one God. That’s good, but even the demons believe that! And they shake with fear.
You fool! Faith that does nothing is worth nothing. Do you want me to prove this to you? Our father Abraham was made right with God by what he did. He offered his son Isaac to God on the altar. So you see that Abraham’s faith and what he did worked together. His faith was made perfect by what he did. This shows the full meaning of the Scriptures that say, “Abraham believed God, and because of this faith he was accepted as one who is right with God.” Abraham was called “God’s friend.” So you see that people are made right with God by faith. If they do right without faith in Jesus, their good deeds are scattered like dust in the wind when they die. They cannot be made right by faith alone unless Jesus and the Holy Spirit are guiding them to do right.
Another example is Rahab. She was a prostitute, but she was made right with God by something she did. She helped those who were spying for God’s people. She welcomed them into her home and helped them escape over a different road. A person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead. It is the same with faith—faith that does nothing is dead!
Think of the nobleman that sought Jesus on behalf of his son. John 4:46-54 reports; Jesus went to visit Cana in Galilee again. Cana is where he had changed the water into wine. One of the king’s important officials lived in the city of Capernaum. This man’s son was sick. The man heard that Jesus had come from Judea and was now in Galilee. So he went to Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, who was almost dead. Jesus said to him, “You people must see miraculous signs and wonders before you will believe in me.”
The king’s official said, “Sir, come before my little son dies.” Jesus answered, “Go. Your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus told him and went home. On the way home, the man’s servants came and met him. They said, “Your son is well.”
The man asked, “What time did my son begin to get well?” They answered, “It was about one o’clock yesterday when the fever left him.” The father knew that one o’clock was the same time that Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and everyone in his house believed in Jesus. That was the second miraculous sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Then there is the case of a woman seeking the healing of her daughter. Matthew 15:22-39 reports: A Canaanite woman from that area came out and began shouting, “Lord, Son of David, please help me! My daughter has a demon inside her, and she is suffering very much.” But Jesus did not answer her. So the followers came to him and said, “Tell her to go away. She keeps crying out and will not leave us alone.”
Jesus answered, “God sent me only to the lost people of Israel.” Then the woman came over to Jesus and bowed before him. She said, “Lord, help me!” He answered her with this saying: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.” The woman said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces of food that fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! You will get what you asked for.” And right then the woman’s daughter was healed.
But Jesus was not done caring for the mass of the people he would meet in His travels. He went on to heal many others. Christ went from there to the shore of Lake Galilee. He went up on a hill and sat down. A large crowd of people came to him. They brought many other sick people and put them before him. There were people who could not walk, people who were blind, crippled, or deaf, and many others. Jesus healed them all. People were amazed when they saw that those who could not speak were now able to speak. Crippled people were made strong. Those who could not walk were now able to walk. The blind were able to see. Everyone thanked the God of Israel for this.
Even if the person you care for is not related or a friend, you can show you care as Jesus did for the two men suffering from demons. Matthew 8:28-34 relates: Jesus arrived at the other side of the lake in the country of the Gadarene people. There, two men who had demons inside them came to him. They lived in the burial caves and were so dangerous that no one could use the road by those caves. They came to Jesus and shouted, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Did you come here to punish us before the right time?”
Near that place, there was a large herd of pigs feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you make us leave these men, please send us into that herd of pigs.” Jesus said to them, “Go!” So the demons left the men and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd of pigs ran down the hill into the lake, and all were drowned. The men who had the work of caring for the pigs ran away. They went into town and told the people everything that had happened, especially about the men who had the demons. Then the whole town went out to see Jesus. When the people saw him, they begged him to leave their area.
Now, if your faith is somewhat on the weak side, as even the disciples experienced occasionally, and your prayers are showing no measurable results in the near term, maybe a little self assessment is required. The more you exercise your acts of caring and kindness, even if you see no immediate changes, you will become a more effective Christian. And guess what? The ripples you will raise might become as powerful as a tsunami! Who knows?
Your compassionate words and kind-hearted acts demonstrate to people that you really care for them. To them, this may seem to be more powerful than either your silent or outspoken prayers. Your actions, in addition to prayers, tells that person their well-being is one of your highest concerns.
What about that? To you, will a casual prayer suffice? I tell you that caring supported with action matters. The results will be reflected, with God's perseverance, regardless of whether or not you are privileged to see some of the positive outcomes.
Sometimes when we pass a person needing help or a soothing word, we act so detached, like looking on the scene from far away from their pain. Their agonies are not felt by us. That's a shame because, surely, if we truly understood their pain—how could we not help? We must care to really make a difference. If God is to use us in significant ways, we must learn to care. For most victims of suffering or depression, our acts of caring really matter.
The men that lowered their paralyzed friend down through the roof exercised their faith. Those men sought the physical healing of their friend, but Jesus saw a greater teaching point. What good is physical healing if a man is eternally lost? They could not conceive of Jesus healing the paralytic in his absence, so they sought to present him where no one could ignore him. Where Jesus could see him and heal him.
Jesus knows the amount of faith each of us has. All he asks of us is that we exercise that faith to the best of our ability. He could have chastised those men for taking such extreme measures that surely interrupted His teaching. But did He berate them? No. Did He chastise them by telling them they did not have to bring the paralytic man into his presence? No, instead, he praised them and acknowledged their strength of faith.
Instead of telling the man to get up and walk, Jesus said thy sins be forgiven. This caused a great stir among all those who were attending. Jesus used this opportunity to bring home a forceful point to his listener. As the Son of God, he had the power to forgive sins. Finally, he told the paralyzed man to take up your bed and walk. As the man proceeded to walk out of the room, the rippling effect was fascinating; the bible tells us that everyone was amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying. “We have seen strange things today.”
The good fortune of the healed man might well have continued throughout this man’s life, for I'm sure he told his story, thus spreading the Gospel of Jesus to all that would listen. As he too created outward ripples of his own. Then consider his friends and the eyewitnesses' stories they told. Those rippling effects must have been godly fantastic, even though for those very reasons the jealous Pharisees sought to kill Jesus.
You need not worry about how much faith you have. What you do need to do is to exhibit that faith by exercising your faith in public. Not like the rich man that wanted everyone in the Temple to appreciate how lavish his gifts to God were, but exercise your faith like a good shepherd caring for the sheep. Whether the sheep belong in your personal pasture or not.
Great feats are accomplished when we care and pray. We must care enough to persevere. We must not only be concerned about the physical but the spiritual well being of those around us. God commands us to love others. One of the simplest ways to love is helping when we see someone in need. Whether it is our time, money, or energy, giving to help someone in need is a mark of a mature Christian. We also find that helping others is a blessing to ourselves.
We do not have to worry about why people go or do not go to church or Bible study. The point is as long as we meet them, we must care to share the gospel with them, and if needed, see to and support their physical needs as well.
It goes without saying, some Christians view caring as more God's job than their own. They do not clearly visualize why God calls them to care. Through Christian caring, God manifests His nature and His character. God's desire is that Christian work to ease humanity's sufferings whenever we notice them. By performing care-related acts, Christians are not only a representative from God, but also an important contributor to God’s overall mission.
Please allow me to present this wonderful poem, “Someone Cares” by Helen Steiner Rice.
Someone cares and always will,
The world forgets, but God loves you still.
You cannot go beyond His love
No matter what you're guilty of -
For God forgives until the end,
He is your faithful, loyal friend,
And though you try to hide your face
There is no shelter any place
That can escape His watchful eye,
For on the earth and in the sky
He's ever present and always there
To take you in His tender care
And bind the wounds and mend the breaks
When all the world around forsakes.
Someone cares and loves you still,
And God is the someone who always will.
Heartfelt and tender caring provides people with the opportunity to express love to the suffering.
The end
