How To Be Around Difficult People

​Lk 14:2-4 - And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3 And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"  4 But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away.  NASU 

• Jesus Helping Others  

Have you known someone that was difficult to be around? Jesus at times was surrounded by Pharisees who were very difficult to be around. They had an attitude that they knew everything about God's Word. They also believed Jesus was one who violated God's Word constantly and this couldn't have been further from the truth.
 
Jesus knew the truth about what God wanted Him to accomplish and He did it. You have to know what you are doing is the correct thing even while being criticized or persecuted. When you know in your heart you are doing the right thing it is easier to continue on with the task. 

• Being Like Jesus Can Create Its Own Set Of Problems

Being like Jesus can create problems. He was trying to heal a man and the Pharisees were not impressed. As they say in another place there are six days in which to be healed come on one of them, but not on the Sabbath Day.
 
We can see that man's traditions were violating the Word of God. One thing we need to remember and that is "It is never wrong to do the right thing." There are some people who are very outspoken and they will try to stop you from doing the right thing. You must move forward deliberately even in the face of opposition. 

• A Brother's Story

 I remember a brother in the Lord came to me one day when I was ministering in MD. His name was Larry and he wanted to explain to me why he missed Sunday morning service. I assured him that wasn't necessary but he went on with his story.
 
He was driving to our worship service and he saw an elderly woman standing by her disabled vehicle. He stopped to help her and became involved in the situation and by the time he had helped her fix her vehicle the worship service was finished.
 
I told Larry that he had done exactly what Jesus had wanted him to do.

The next Sunday as I was greeting people after the service an elderly lady came up to me and said a man from this congregation had stopped to help her last week and she tried to pay him. She said the only payment he would accept is for her to attend one of our worship services. She said so please tell him I said thanks and that I did attend.  

• It Was Sunday When Larry Did His Good Deed

Larry was living like Jesus. I believe Larry was exactly like Jesus when he was helping that elderly lady. I am sure some modern day Pharisees would have found fault with Larry but I wasn't going to find fault with him because the way I see it "It is never wrong to do right" regardless of the day.
 
I wonder how many times that elderly lady told the story of how her car broke down and a nice young Christian man stopped to help her?  

• Who Are We Helping?

What I believe about Larry is this "that was his mindset" or M.O. (modus operandi or method of operation). He was always looking to help people. I know for a fact that elderly woman was not the first person Larry had helped and I am pretty sure she wasn't the last. He went about doing good and helping people because he was always looking for that opportunity.
 
In life you can find two types of people - there are the "Givers" and the "Takers". 
 
Larry was a giver all the time. What makes Larry's story even more remarkable was the amount of suffering he endured on a daily basis. If I told you of his struggles you would be saying, "Where does he get his strength?".
 
When others would have quit, become cynical or walked away from their faith not Larry. He endured hardships like a true spiritual warrior.
 
So who are we helping today? 
 
We won't help anyone if we aren't looking for people to help. It has to become a part of our mindset.
 
Find someone today that you can help, I am sure you will be glad that you did. After all that is why Jesus came to earth to do good and help people who had gotten themselves into a terrible fix.

Think About These:

You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.

 The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word