My hospital stay which ended a year ago for Appendicitis lasted almost 3 weeks total with complications. The "spiritual" ER for me was having someone ask if they could pray for me who was actually a Christian (not always certain given the denomination of the hospital). Some years back my former roomate who started a nursing home ministry about 25 years ago now went with me a couple times and wasn't afraid to discuss life's brevity and give a clear Gospel presentation to people in the last stages of life; as well as with his own mother who came to the Lord the last couple months of her life after years of effort. Enough time in these environments and you see people pass on; some of who clearly knew the Lord and others who didn't. The particular residence was technically a rehabilitation center; thus occasionally young people would come in and even in those cases you don't know how much time is left and neither do they. It takes patience and wisdom to know how much time to spend with particular people; some of whom want to get a rise out of any interaction and the conversation gets crude rather quickly. Such an environment certainly helps one with serving people whether or not we are spiritually gifted in that area. In helping those down and out in other environments wisdom of s similar nature is needed; particularly when they are asking for a handout.
In short; it shouldn't have to be a mutually exclusive question if we should have to show compassion on a human level as well as proclaim the Gospel. We still are called to help meet the needs of others we encounter whenever possible whether or not they are open to the truth. What we don't do is dumb down the Gospel to a more "user friendly" lukewarm message to try to make them "feel good". We are ambassadors of the Truth; and shouldn't be ashamed of the Gospel; nonetheless it is pointless to have to shove it down the throats of others. Who we serve should be clear.
My hospital stay which ended a year ago for Appendicitis lasted almost 3 weeks total with complications. The "spiritual" ER for me was having someone ask if they could pray for me who was actually a Christian (not always certain given the denomination of the hospital). Some years back my former roomate who started a nursing home ministry about 25 years ago now went with me a couple times and wasn't afraid to discuss life's brevity and give a clear Gospel presentation to people in the last stages of life; as well as with his own mother who came to the Lord the last couple months of her life after years of effort. Enough time in these environments and you see people pass on; some of who clearly knew the Lord and others who didn't. The particular residence was technically a rehabilitation center; thus occasionally young people would come in and even in those cases you don't know how much time is left and neither do they. It takes patience and wisdom to know how much time to spend with particular people; some of whom want to get a rise out of any interaction and the conversation gets crude rather quickly. Such an environment certainly helps one with serving people whether or not we are spiritually gifted in that area. In helping those down and out in other environments wisdom of s similar nature is needed; particularly when they are asking for a handout.
In short; it shouldn't have to be a mutually exclusive question if we should have to show compassion on a human level as well as proclaim the Gospel. We still are called to help meet the needs of others we encounter whenever possible whether or not they are open to the truth. What we don't do is dumb down the Gospel to a more "user friendly" lukewarm message to try to make them "feel good". We are ambassadors of the Truth; and shouldn't be ashamed of the Gospel; nonetheless it is pointless to have to shove it down the throats of others. Who we serve should be clear.
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