A reporter once asked an award-winning farmer, “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are competing with you each year?” The farmer responded, “The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I have to help my neighbors grow good corn.” ~ Unknown
There you have it, once again. We are not in competition with each other, friends. Rather, we should be doing our best to help each other because, in doing so, we find ourselves to be at the top of our form. Remember, we teach by example. If we tell those around us that we are to love and serve but we fail to lift a finger to help others, we are the poorest of the poor when it comes to setting a good example.
We were made in God’s image and likeness and our primary goal is to get back to heaven to live with God. However, we were made to live in community. God’s laws were all about preserving not only the individual but the community. Jesus sent His disciples out to teach and preach to others. Our mission is to bring our brothers and sisters to the Kingdom with us. We cannot do that if we do not act as an appropriate invitation.
While we focus a lot on self during Lent, make sure that your examination includes how you associate with others and what kind of person you are toward others. Do you live as an invitation and encourager or do people look to others for inspiration?
FAITH ACTION: Help the one who is flagging in the faith so that your practice of the faith may remain strong.