APRIL 15 "ARE YOU TRULY ALTRUISTIC?"

   ARE Christians altruistic? There's a questions that deserves some thought! I personally don't know the answer to that, but I do know that Jesus was. I am amazed how many times Jesus helped and healed people, without first negotiating with them whether or not they would follow him. "If I heal you will you follow me, If I heal you will you repent, if I heal you will you be my disciple, will you join my group", these were never words heard from Jesus. Jesus healed and helped (and some may be scandalized by this) without even preaching to them. So why did Jesus heal, without first getting a commitment? Why did Jesus heal, knowing full well he was just being used? The answer of course was because Jesus was truly altruistic, he was the epitome of selflessness. What are the motives of Christians today? Are we helping others and being nice, pretending to care when really all we want is for them to join our church and the moment we realize they have no interest in our church or our God we drop them like a bad habit! If this is the case then we are no different than those trying to sell us
make-up and products; they are nice, loving and helpful until it is made clear that we are not interested in buying their product, once that becomes clear, you would be lucky to even get a return phone call, never mind any help. Jesus heals the lepers in our text without asking them to pledge allegiance to him, He heals them without preaching to them, he heals them knowing full well he is being used. In a separate story in the Gospels, Jesus stops a caravan of mourners for a young man that has died. Jesus says a few words to the widow, then raises her son from the dead and simply moves on with his day not asking anything of this woman. That has always amazed me!  He fed the thousands simply because they were hungry.  I wonder how truly altruistic we are?  Are we caring, are we loving because, like the beauty product saleswoman, we are really hoping to get something back.  Would you invest in someone you know will soon move away? Will you love and help those that you know will probably never join your church or study group? Or do we only help those that we can foresee "joining our group".  Many outside the church say Christians are not truly ALTRUISTIC because ultimately they have an ulterior agenda in being nice.  Are they correct, is this true, are Christians truly Altruistic? Jesus we know was, the question that remains to be answered, is our his disciples?

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