Excuses we employ to not care about or minister to others …

It is impossible to follow in the steps of Jesus as faithful disciples without caring about and ministering to the needs of others.

In fact, Jesus incorporated into His requirements for being His disciple the necessity of putting to death our selfishness …

“Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me,'” Luke 9:23.

Selflessness and sacrifice should be hallmarks of Christian discipleship, yet one of the greatest blemishes on the 21st century church is a penchant for not caring about the suffering of others.

Most who profess to follow Christ but inwardly really don’t want to be bothered with the needs of others don’t outwardly portray themselves as uncaring. Instead, they’ll employ any number of excuses for not serving the needs of others. Here are eight popular excuses we employ to justify not caring about or serving others:

It’s not wise.
This is when we pontificate on how unwise it would be to help someone in need because they won’t learn any lessons about “getting themselves in that position” in the future. Leave the lessons to the Lord, while providing some help!

I’m the wrong size.
This is when we claim we don’t have adequate resources to help someone, so we tell them, “I don’t have the means to help you, but I’ll pray for you.” In some cases, you may not have all the resources someone may need to help them, but in that case, you can help rally other Christians to come together to meet the need. That’s what the first church did (see Acts 2 and 4).

Standardize.
Instead of acknowledging the pain of others, we “standardize” it, saying “everybody is facing something” or claiming “we all have it hard these days.” Not true. Many in the West “have it” quite comfortable, but by suggesting suffering is just a common, everyday experience for all, we dismiss it.

Trivialize.
When we can’t get away with ignoring the needs of others, we then attempt to trivialize it to make their suffering appear to be smaller than it is. If its small, then they can handle it themselves and don’t need help from anyone else.

Minimize.
When we can’t overtly ignore obvious suffering, or make it smaller than it is, we try to minimize it by saying it isn’t important. After all, the person will live, so they just need to “push through it.”

Politicize.
Wildly popular in America today is politicizing the suffering of others, which is when we borrow from the “great American dream” and tell people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. When we ignore them and they have to try to get help from the government, we ridicule people who get assistance from the government! We criticize people who use the “safety net” Americans have installed to help people in need, but provide no other options (or fewer options that don’t meet the need).

Dehumanize.
Poor people, homeless people, people suffering from mental illness, people of certain ethnicities, people from certain religious beliefs, and others are prime targets for simply dehumanizing them as being “less than” — not as valuable or worthy. This is a horrendous attitude and a terrible sin, but something too many are willing to do to avoid caring about and serving them.

Despise.
Some people are foolish enough to make excuses for actually hating certain people, and there’s nothing that will move them toward caring about and serving those they despise. Not even these words of Jesus: “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect,” Matthew 5:43-48.

Jesus came to this world He created to serve and save a humanity made up entirely of sinners, people who were enemies of God and living in rebellion to Him. Christ loved them, served them, and died for them while they were at their worst. That’s the example He gave us …

“For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps,” 1 Peter 2:21.

Are you making excuses for not caring about and serving others in need?

Scotty

P.S. If you would like to dig deeper into the topic about caring for others, check out my book, “Real Christians Care,” featuring a collection of writings on the topics of caring, compassion, generosity, kindness, selflessness, and serving. You can find the book by clicking here.