Too many people are ready to carry the stool when there is a piano to be moved. How eager are we to help do what needs to be done? All too often we let ourselves be distracted, and allow others to carry the load that we should be bearing.
Isaiah was not this way. We remember his response when he heard the voice of God: “Also I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”
How many of us would change this to, “Here am I, send him.” That’s like carrying the stool and letting someone else bear the weight of the piano.
Just what kind of load should we volunteer to carry? Many of us are not physically strong enough to help with a literal piano, but we need to lift this thought to a higher level and ask the question again.
Paul tells us to “bear ye one another’s burdens.” We ask, How can I? I can barely manage my own! We don’t often need to carry their load, just extend our hand to help them keep their balance. We like the story about a group of children playing in a field where they discover an abandoned railroad track. Each youngster tries to walk the rail but invariably has to step down. Two bright young lads put their heads together and announce to the rest that they can walk the entire length of the track without falling off. All the other youngsters challenge them with an, “Oh, yeah? prove it.” The two young boys each mount one of the parallel tracks and extend their arms to hold each other’s hand, and together they do what neither of them could have done alone.
How conscious are we that there are those around us who are stumbling and falling for lack of a helping hand? Are we there to help steady them when they need us? The only picture we have been given of the judgment seat of Christ has to do with those who put themselves out for others. We are familiar with the words our Lord spake. He said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.”
The righteous did not remember having done this for Jesus, and so he told them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”
We need to become aware of the needs of those around us and be willing to extend a helping hand to each other. Don’t look for someone else to do it. “Here am I, send me” should be our response. If we do, then the welcome words of Jesus will be addressed to us. “Then the King will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One