Yesterday was a rare day where I live. The temperature finally climbed above freezing and the sun came out. Days like this have been few and far between this winter. When they come every car owner knows it's time to get the salt washed off their vehicles and I was ready to get that done yesterday.
So I had a choice to make - take $7 and join the long line at the local car wash, or get the bucket and sponge out and clean our van myself by hand. The car wash wins that contest many times for most of us. It's faster and more convenient to just some money in a machine and just sit there and wait while it cleans the car. The only problem is, no matter how good the car wash it isn't really going to get the car clean, it's just going to rinse of most of the dirt. Honest car owners know that in order to get your vehicle really clean you have to do it by hand - you have to get a little wet and dirty and actually put your hands on it to get all of the dirt of. Sure there are car washes that have giant brushes or floppy clothes hanging down, but all they do is scratch the polish off. No, if you really want your car to be clean and look it's best, you have to wash it by hand.
So I decided to take the extra time and I washed the van by hand. I admit that my decision wasn't based so much on getting the van as clean as possible as it was based on saving the $7!
As I washed the van by hand I was thinking about the Christian life that God has called us to. I thought about the people that He leads us to, people that need our help because they have made a mess of their lives. Too many times in too many churches we are looking for the $7 car wash solutions to these people and their problems. We want to fix them quickly because their mess makes us uncomfortable. So we give them a quick spiritual answer and a token prayer and hope it is enough. But just like your car that is covered in the dirt of the road, if we are really going to help people, really help them to clean up the mess in their life, it is going to take time and we are going to have to lay our hands on them, put our arms around them and not look for the quick or easy way out.
When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Luke 4:40
I love the picture scripture paints for us here of the daily ministry of the life of Christ. He had only three years to teach his disciples all he could, to prepare them to build the church, he had so much to accomplish but yet we see him here (and in many other places) taking the time to listen to the needs of the people he came across. He didn't just listen, he didn't just pray for them, he laid his hands on them - he touched their lives physically and spiritually. Note that he didn't just stand on a balcony somewhere and bless everyone at once, he took time with them one at a time.
If we are going to be the Church the Jesus wants us to be, to really love and care for people, then we must slow down a little - we must take the time to really see people in their needs and then minister to those needs for as long as it takes. No quick fixes. No easy answers. It's going to be messy and we might get a little dirty along the way, but the truth is that this is the only way to really help people.
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