“How can I help” vs. “Here’s what you need”

There are different ways to approach situations, especially when someone else is having the difficulty. The human heart most naturally wants us to walk in and say to someone else, “Here’s what you need.” It assumes they can’t handle it, be we obviously can. It’s pretty pompous and conceited. And because this approach doesn’t take the time to understand first, it usually misses the mark of what the situation actually requires.

There’s another way. It’s starts by saying, “How can I help?” There’s humility there and a willingness to understand. It values others and recognizes that there are complexities to situations we might not understand at first. It cares about what others need more than what we want. This is the way that actually helps.

Can you guess which of these ways follows the design God has already given us?

God’s ways work the best.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).