On Being a "Rescuer"

Recently I was called a "rescuer" in a derogatory kind of way. It's given me reason to pause and consider.

Clinically, the terms refers to someone who over-helps others as a means to fulfill their own needs for value and importance. It addresses underlying, unhealthy motives for engaging with others who are in need.

I don't want to be that, so even though I take this comment within the context it was given, I'm taking stock and analyzing some of my recent "helping" behaviours, asking God to reveal "any hidden way in me" (Ps 139:23).

Separately, I've been reading through Proverbs again, and this morning's reading was from chapter 14, verses 21 and 31.

"He who despises his neighbour sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy....He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God."

It seems pretty clear from these and countless verses in my Bible that God is a rescuer for the needy, and He calls us to partner with Him in this. And it would seem that, and it's been my experience that, as I press into God, I would catch this passion. How could you love God and not be moved by those in need?

Yes, there is a danger always of the shadow side of good things. And I will continue to watch for a "Messiah complex" and the insidious ways of over-helping.

But I think there also may be a way we tend to pathologize kindness as a means of excusing our own selfishness and ingratitude. I don't want to be that either.

And if I err, I'd rather err on the side off too much than too little. Because, quite frankly, I think there's a whole lot more most of us could be doing to share the incredible wealth we've been given in this part of the world.

So, as I continue to guard against the shadow side, I am committed to being a "rescuer" for God....He's rescued me from so much!
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