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We often hear people say Christians are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. That charge may be true of some Christians, but it is not true of all, and it certainly was not true of Christianity’s founder, Jesus Christ. Our Lord spent a lot of time healing people, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, and feeding the hungry. Before feeding 5000 men plus women and children, Jesus told His disciples that He was doing it because He had compassion for people. We learn in John 6 that after feeding them, He went on to explain that they had a far greater spiritual hunger. He told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Food is necessary for physical survival, but Jesus, as the Bread from Heaven, satisfies our spiritual hunger. As followers of Christ, we do not ignore the physical and social needs of people. We just believe we must keep the main thing the main thing. Once Jesus satisfies us by giving us eternal life, He invigorates our spirits. We overflow with deeds of love, not to gain acceptance with God, but because God has accepted us. Our deeds certainly include sharing God’s wonderful plan of salvation; but as Jesus showed us, we also share our resources to help meet the material needs of hurting people.
