The Spiritual Needs Of Others

June 2020 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Spiritual Needs Of Others

Advertisements tug at our hearts with appeals to provide financially for organizations that help the homeless and poor, the incurably diseased and sick, the victimized and hungry. Such needs are made painfully apparent. Serious suffering and struggle is experienced by so many, and tears for them may well up in our eyes. We have a concern for what people go through in this world, but what about the next?

Today I read Revelation 20. At the end of chapter, it says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life ... anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (vv.12,15 NKJV). The Book of Life lists the names of those who are saved. The lake of fire is the judgment for any who refuse salvation through Jesus Christ. This condemnation is eternal – one of total separation, great suffering and deep sorrow (see Mt. 8:12). How much more serious this is than the physical problems that pull on our hearts!

Are we as concerned for the spiritual well being of men, women and children as we are for their physical situations? In the light of Scripture we recognize that our hearts and minds often fall short in such things. One Man walked in this world in perfection – the Lord Jesus Christ. He addressed the spiritual and physical needs of individuals. Both were important to Him, for His “delight was with the sons of men” (Prov. 8:31).

May we seek a heart – one full of Christ – for others. Reading and obeying God’s Word, which speaks of the Lord Jesus from cover to cover, will accomplish this in us. Philip the evangelist, as we will see in our Feature articles, is a God-given example of this character. May we too “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5) in the areas where the Lord has placed us.

I would like to thank Stephen Campbell for helping to edit two articles in this edition. We are looking forward to further help from him in the future, as the Lord wills.

By Paul Alberts