The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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worse for it. For in such a case the person helped will feel like a burden. Our attitudes are as
important as our actions. Actions done in a loving, cheerful attitude will bring not only physical
relief, but also mental health. People need hope when suffering.
“A well-known evangelist spent two weeks in bed with pneumonia. Ministerial
acquaintances came from a distance, and despite his high fever, spent over an hour
in the sick room, exuding oppressive melancholy. They left with the reminder that,
if they never met on earth again, they would certainly meet in glory. The evangelist
reported, “I was far sicker when they left than when they came.’” 22
“A church member who wanted to help in some form of Christian activity was assigned
the task of standing outside a rescue mission, inviting people to enter. He did so in a
very mournful manner. Each passerby glanced at him and went on. He learned his
lesson when one man responded to his gloomy invitation, ‘No thanks, I’ve got
troubles enough of my own.’” 23
A little girl said of a pious deacon, “He must be a very good man; he always looks so sad.” 24
Examples
Mt. 20:29-34 Jesus showed compassion by touching the eyes of the two blind men.
Mk. 10:46-52 When the others rebuked Bartimaeus, the blind man, for shouting to Jesus to
have mercy on him, Jesus responded by healing him.
Lk. 17:11-19 Jesus showed pity on the 10 lepers by healing them.
Acts 6:1 The early church practiced “daily distribution” of food.
Acts 11:27-30 The famine relief fund in Antioch was carefully organized by Paul for poor
Jewish Christians. The disciples, “each according to his ability, decided to
provide help” for the brothers living in Judea.
Acts 9:36 Tabitha (Dorcas) was “always doing good and helping the poor.”
“Government-sponsored welfare-work, which in some countries is so much a part of
modern life, offers wide scope for the exercise of this role. We are convinced that
Christian probation officers, Christian social workers, Christian doctors and nurses
can all contribute something to this sphere of service which a non-Christian who
knows nothing of the energizing to the whole man in modern society, but without
endowments from the Holy Spirit, neither the worker nor his work is truly whole.
Again, it will have to be recognized that many such tasks offer less financial return
than the worker might hope to receive in other professions. There is great need for
well-qualified young Christians to consider the call of God, the sacrifice involved,
the strains imposed, and the mental and spiritual demands made, in such acts of mercy.” 25