My cell phone’s camera recently stopped focusing. As someone who stops every 5 minutes to snap a shot of something I think is photo-worthy, this has been quite frustrating for me. With great frequency I find myself stopping to pull out my phone only to remember that the picture will turn out blurry no matter how hard I try. But something has happened in this time: I’ve started carrying around my DSLR camera. The one that actually takes high-quality photos. And what I have found is that no matter how much cell phone cameras have advanced, my real camera is simply better. iPhone photos might look great on Facebook and Instagram but when it comes to real photography the quality of photos taken with my actual camera is incomparably higher. The tradeoff is that it’s heavier and bulkier and I feel a little awkward pulling it out to take pictures in public places. Which is why it took me needing to carry it around for me to actually do it. And as it turns out: it’s worth it. Living life on the mission field and also just as a human in general I have seen that this is true in a lot of circumstances: necessity is often the most fertile ground for opportunity. But it requires us to do a little cultivating by taking the following steps:
Be Vulnerable. Easily said but not so easily lived: vulnerability is something that most of us can work on. Being vulnerable doesn’t mean airing out your dirty laundry to everybody and their brother. But it does mean letting a few trusted friends into the parts of your life you haven’t had a chance to clean up yet. It’s the difference between inviting your friend over to your house after a full day of cleaning and saying ‘Sorry for the mess.’ and allowing that same friend to show up and bring you dinner when you’ve been sick in bed and have dirty clothes and dirty dishes in plain sight. On a spiritual level, it’s confessing sin or struggles in your life that you are still going through rather than waiting to have it all figured out to share. Again, this is not something to share with everyone. But there should be at least one brother or sister in Christ who knows where you are truly at spiritually. Without all the super spiritual cleaning up we tend to do.
Be Honest. This is where how you relate to everyone else comes in. In church and perhaps especially in ministry there is a temptation to tell everyone that you are fine all the time. It’s tempting to think that ‘I have to be okay because they expect me to be.’ But now more than ever what people want is genuine examples to follow. Not some made-up version of what we think those we follow should be. So it’s a good time to stop with all of the Christian ‘filters’ we put on and let people know that we struggle too. A practical example could be struggling with depression or apathy towards reading your Bible. You don’t have to go around holding up a sign that says, ‘Hey, I’m depressed.’ But there is no shame in letting people know that you feel mentally and spiritually under the weather. On the contrary, this opens up the door for them to minister to you! If you always have the appearance of having it all together people likely won’t feel confident sending you a note of encouragement or approaching you to offer wise counsel. If you show them honestly where you are at, you may be surprised at how they began to feel like they can come closer and minister to you in hard times.
Be humble. You’ve probably already figured out that both vulnerability and honesty require a common heart attitude: humility. A proud heart is the one that will seek to clean up the mess before inviting others in. It is also the one that will have a hard time accepting help even when it is offered. This pride hurts not only you but also those around you that attempt to minister to you and are rejected. You rob them of the opportunity to be the body of Christ and carry out the good works he has laid out for them. Furthermore, you do harm to your own spiritual condition by living under the lie that you don’t need the body of Christ as much as they need you. How would you feel if every time you tried to serve another church member you were met with a hardy ‘I’m fine.’ instead of a grateful, humble heart?
Be generous and look to other’s needs. Whenever we live through an experience that was hard for us, we become more attuned to the needs of others that go through similar situations. Whether it’s a breakup, moving, leaving family to go to the mission field, feeling betrayed by a loved one or friend: we all have experiences that mark us. And we all hope to have the kind of friends around us who will minister to us in those times. One of the greatest gifts we can receive from these experiences is the help of others: and then we can give that great gift to those who go through those same experiences after us. Look for the chance to be the opportunity in someone else’s necessity. Bless them in their time of need. At the times when they have nothing to offer you in return. Because this is what it means to truly love one another.
As we learned to be vulnerable, honest, and humble we also learn how necessity brings about the best opportunities to be the body of Christ to each other. So if you are going through a time of need today take the risk to let someone else in on your circumstances. And if you’re doing great today- don’t assume that everyone else is. Look for the chance to be a blessing to someone else who may be passing through deep waters unseen or in silence.
”Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” -Galatians 6:2
