To Serve Others, Open Your Eyes

If you want to serve people through ministry, you need to slow down and observe the world. It helps you be sensitive to the needs of other people.

If you wanted to take a cross-country trip, you’d have several options. A plane would get you there fastest, but you wouldn’t experience much of the country. You could take a train or even a car, and each would give you opportunities to see even more. But if you really wanted to take in as much as possible, you’d walk.

That’s because the slower you go, the more you see.

The Bible says, “Look out for the good of others” (1 Corinthians 10:24 NCV). Ask God to give you spiritual radar for people around you who are hurting emotionally, spiritually, or physically.

Maybe you were born with this gift. You automatically sense when people around you are in need. It’s not that you’re more spiritual than the rest of us. You’re just wired that way.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t describe all of us. Some of us have something like spiritual ADD. It’s easy to get distracted. It’s easy to be task-focused. It’s easy to be insensitive to what’s happening around us.

But if you care, you’ll be aware. It’s not always easy to see the needs of other people, especially when you’re too busy and have an overloaded schedule. But it’s an important part of serving others in need. God wants you to help others. Ask him to show you where you’re focusing on the wrong things so you can remove them from your to-do list.