So……These two teen girls were about to throw down in the McDs play place in the sliding glass door area. They were cussing and yelling. The adults were furious and yelling at the kids to stop cussing around their children. I didn’t like it either, but I suddenly remembered a saying, “Caring should make you curious.” So I walked up to the girls and asked what started this fight. The answer was shocking, One of the girls boyfriends stole the other girls spicy chicken sandwich. I confirmed it was nothing else and surely it wasn’t. I offered to buy both girls 3 spicy chicken sandwiches each and the boyfriend one. They laughed, agreed and sat down and ate together. In fact, one of the girls played with my 2 year old daughter and was great. I invited them to church and they said maybe but they were grateful for the sandwiches.
“Caring should make you curious.”
I recently learned the we can easily confuse caring for an anxious desire to fix or solve someone’s problem as if their problem’s were our own. That is not caring, but controlling a circumstance. That never ends well. In the story above the parents wanted to control the moment so badly they addressed at a surface level. I do this all the time. I am learning though caring looks a lot different then we think.
Here are 5 ways its look like to truly care:
1) Truly caring should always begin with praying that God help the person in need and help you to love like Jesus.
2) Truly caring should compel you to be curious about what the person is really facing. The bigger the picture the easier it is to see how to love.
3) Truly caring requires you to be present in heart, soul, mind and strength.
4) Truly caring helps you to know when to say no to something beyond your ability to care. Don’t let this be a way out for you because 95% of caring is listening and encouraging, but also use wisdom. I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to do something I just wasn’t capable of.
5) Truly caring should always include you encouraging someone to take their next step in Jesus. Steps could be but aren’t limited to:
1) Setting up a time to talk about why Jesus has helped you if not in that moment.
2) To come to church.
3) To surrender their life to Jesus in that moment.
4) To attend a church more and get involved in a life group.
5) To simply pray for them, a tool we most often overlook.
When it comes to caring in any context become more curious and see what God does.
See you Sunday ,
Michael