Many years ago, I saw a cement company’s slogan on the sides of their trucks: “Find a Need and Fill it.” They wanted to fill the voids in people’s concrete sidewalks and foundations. You know, that is an excellent motto for us Christians to live by as well, not for filling voids in people’s concrete but to fill voids and repair cracks in their lives. Everybody has always had needs, but the level of needs has been exacerbated because of this unprecedented pandemic with all of its fears and restrictions. In 2019, how often did we talk about buying toilet paper? Here is 2021, how much do we miss seeing each other, not just online, but face to face? When’s the last time you hugged a friend, or patted someone on the back? Perhaps the introverts among us are managing okay, but many of the extroverts are probably struggling. There are definitely needs out there, but we are not aware of them. Even at church, we created a form for those who have physical or spiritual needs and we will try to help meet them. Yet very few people have really taken advantage of it.
My fear is that people are suffering in silence. They have lost income, or a loved one and have no one to walk alongside them. Perhaps they are isolated, whether by themselves or being stuck in the same space with the same people. Maybe they lack the technological savvy to connect with others. How they long to have someone with a listening ear, a shoulder they could lean on, some wisdom to guide them, or some encouragement to know that they matter somehow, somewhere, and to someone. We need to find a need and fill it.
From another perspective, maybe you feel that way, and you yearn for someone to reach out to you. Since you are personally aware of the struggle of being alone, I encourage you to reach out to someone as well, and perhaps each of you can be filled as you meet each other’s needs. You would know the questions to ask, the kind of hints that people make because you have to same feelings within yourself, so you can listen more astutely as you talk with others.
Whether you feel okay or you feed needy, I encourage you to meditate on 1 John 3:16-18:
[16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. [17] But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? [18] Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Four quick observations about filling needs in people’s lives:
He gave, even though people misunderstood and misinterpreted His actions and motives.
He sacrificed even at the cost of His own life.
He gave and served as the needs arose. We often read that while Jesus was on His way to heal somebody, He would heal others along the way. He met the needs as they were presented to Him.
“closes his heart” - it’s not that he was unaware of the need; he was aware and yet he closed his heart. We are not to be unsympathetic and uncaring; rather, we are to be aware and open.
Just as Jesus’ heart was moved toward those He helped, we need to be moved toward those around us as well.
Helping others is not an issue of checking off boxes that we did this good deed. Helping others is honoring the image of God in each person, recognizing the struggles that they are going through and doing something because they are valuable people.
Now we may complain about the high cost of living in San Jose. And many of us feel that we are just getting by, but by comparison to others, we are still doing really well. We can still find ways to share God’s blessings with others, even while we are struggling ourselves. It may be as simple as treating someone to a meal, helping them with a little gift, finding some clothing that we no longer need that someone else can use, or passing on something that has been laying around in our house that just gets in our way. We can find things that we can give to others.
You may have heard the phrase “talk is cheap.” We can all talk and talk and get nothing done. I used to joke about the weather in Sacramento, blaming the heat on the politicians who talk and talk and get nothing done. But the same can be said about us in the churches, if all we do is talk and talk and nothing gets done, then we are no better.
In James 2:26 we are reminded that “faith without works is dead.”
Let’s put our faith into action.
I challenge you to take some time, open up your phone book and call somebody, or even write them an email. Just reach out to them, see how they are doing. See if there is a need. And if you find a need, then fill it.