Giving a fish or Teaching to fish

There is a popular proverb which you probably know.

“If you give a man a fish, he can eat today, but if you teach a man how to fish, you can feed him for the rest of his life.”

I was pondering what we do as a church. Do we just feed people for a day? Are we handing out free fish? Jesus spent much of his life helping those in need, but that wasn’t the point of his ministry. Helping people was a way to get them thinking about a future in eternity. Jesus was interested in the needs of humanity, but He always saw the big picture. Helping someone from their problems without helping them save their souls is meaningless. Why do we do what we do? Are we reaching souls for eternity?

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Matthew 16:25-26

Jesus teaches a very holistic gospel. He doesn’t want a part of us, He wants every part of us. From body, mind, spirit, and soul, He wants us to be transformed. When Jesus teaches us His lessons, it is not a simple one step answer, no, Jesus often opens before us more questions than we started with. When Jesus gives, He opens more doors that we can explore, more thoughts and ideas that push each of us to places never thought possible.

What are we handing out at church? This is the answer I concluded with. “Us.”

We are giving of ourselves. Jesus living in us. A life that has been transformed by the blood of the Lamb. We are not an idea or set of beliefs, we are a whole person. Jesus gave us everything. He didn’t give a part of Himself, He gave the very best of Himself, that mankind would understand the love that ultimately transformed the world, no, a love that transformed my own heart.

Can you see why sharing Christ is such an intimate ministry? God never asks of us more than what is not good for us, God is ultimately creating a new creature in all of us. Let us do the work He has asked us to do, and trust when all is said and done, we are in heaven, enjoying life happily ever after.

Connected the the Vine

-Pastor Danny