Meeting Physical Needs

I have never been much of a handyman. Some people are naturally gifted with the ability to fix things and work with their hands. While God has given the ability to make people laugh communicate with passion, I am not very good at fixing things. Usually when things needed to be repaired at my parents house I would let my father and brother do it. I would always be there to supply tools and follow instructions. But my general attitude towards jobs like that where, “somebody needs to fix that (not me).”

Now that I am renting my own house that attitude no longer works. For instance a spring hinge for the screen door on my front porch broke a few days ago. I could walk out that door every day and say “somebody needs to fix that”, but it will never get fixed. At some point I will have to buy a new hinge and install it myself. You can't always rely on someone else to fix your problems. Because of that fact this afternoon I bought some things I needed to do odd jobs around the house.

We are surrounded by problems and needs that are much more serious than a broken spring hinge. Problems such as poverty, hunger, climate change, diseases, and overpopulation. These social needs cry out for our attention every day. It is true that meeting the social needs of those around us is not as important as their spiritual need. But we can't ignore these needs either. There are individuals who feel that curing societies social problems is God's calling for the church today. I wrote an article last month about the problem with this philosophy (A New Great Commission).

How do we help meet those needs? The first step is to start discussing them openly. I was talking with some friends after the lesson at a Young Adults Bible Study last Monday night. I enjoy having conversations with them because they are extremely socially conscious. In other words, they think a lot about the physical needs of those around us such as poverty and famine. We began talking about the fact that churches seem to be at different extremes when approaching these issues.

The first group feels that curing social ills are the calling of Believers today. The other does not minister to the physical needs of those around them at all. “Why can't they just be more balanced?” I asked in frustration. It is possible to meet both the spiritual and physical needs of the lost around us. Of course the spiritual need is met first because these problems need a serious “spiritual surgery” (Ending the Dump Truck Method).

During that conversation we began thinking of how those physical needs can be met in a balanced way. Obviously we did not come up with the answer that night. But it was the first of what I hope will be many conversations about how we can meet the problems around us in a Biblical way. The problems around us are great and we need to begin thinking about how each one of us can start meeting those needs.

Some Believers will be able to do huge things such as invest money or become actively involved themselves. Others will only be able to talk with friends about finding solutions to these issues. Whether we become involved in a large or small way, soon it will be time to do something more than say, “somebody needs to fix that.”