Am I willing to accept help ?
Have you ever been offered help by someone, help you really did not need , but nonetheless you accepted it? If you did, you performed an act of true kindness. That’s what I am discovering as I watch my sons interact in giving and receiving. It is more blessed to give than to receive, but if the recipients are gracious acceptors of the gift, the blessings goes both ways.
I say this because it seems to me that refusing help, or a gift, or even advice might have the appearance of humility (as I were saying: “Oh, I don’t deserve this, give it to someone more noble”) when in fact it’s brazen arrogance (I’m really saying: “No, I don’t need or want your help—-and if I do want you to do something I will tell you”).
One of my sons was having a tough time with a robot toy a few days ago, and an older son offered to help. The older one does not offer to help very often and has a hard time of expressing kindness or sharing his things in general, so I was greatly impressed. But then a storm broke loose: The younger son did not want the older one to help him and muttered his dissatisfaction with the offer— loud enough for the elder brother to hear. True to form, the older brother stormed out, said he would never help again, and acted as if he were angry; but he was not angry, he was hurt…. the little brother wounded him by not accepting his gift of help.
Things have not been the same between them for days now. The younger son does not understand why the elder is still so “mad”, and I can’t get the older boy to let go of his hurt. But when a person freely gives “things”, or himself to another, and is then rejected, the hurt cuts deep; the Enemy then tries to convince both the giver and the recipient that they both have a right to be angry, hurt and resentful. My sons represent the problems of our world….
Why not just accept the gift or the help and simply say “thank you”? Let us willingly accept kindness without being suspicious or immediately planning on how “getting even”, so to speak. Without question it’s better to be grateful with no thought of how to repay the good thing that was given in love.
People are blessed when I accept their gifts, their help, their prayers and support. In a real sense, I deny them the blessings from God and the joy of being my friend when I refuse their gift.
You can only give what you own. If you can’t give it away, it’s because it owns you. So when someone gives me their time, their help, advice or wisdom, they are in effect giving me something that is their’s to give—-it is of them. I do well to accept that gift, regardless of it’s efficacy; I would be wise to have genuine appreciation for the offering; I show myself to be very uneducated to refuse the generosity and help of someone else.
No man can come to God unless he is willing to accept the gift….. of Jesus. There’s no other way.
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