SEEKING FOR HELP: CHRISTIAN/MUSLIM APPROACH IN RENDERING HANDS OF ASSISTANCE

SEEKING FOR HELP: CHRISTIAN/MUSLIM APPROACH IN RENDERING HANDS OF ASSISTANCE

Help, according to the WordWeb dictionary means:-

1.      1.  Give assistance; be of service

"Everyone helped out during the earthquake"; "Can you help me carry this table?"; "She never helps around the house"

2.       2. Improve the condition of

"These pills will help the patient"

3.       3. Be of use

"This will help to prevent accidents"

4.      4.  Abstain from doing; always used with a negative

"I can't help myself--I have to smoke"; "She could not help watching the sad spectacle"

5.       5. Give a portion of food or drink

"I served him three times, and after that he helped himself"

6.       6. Contribute to the furtherance of

"This money will help the development of literacy in developing countries"

7.      7.  Take or use

"She helped herself to some of the office supplies"

8.       8. Improve; change for the better

"New slipcovers will help the old living room furniture"

According to an adage in my language, there’s only one thing that have and will never require help before it can do whatever it feels to do, and that one thing is the SKY.

Recently, I was in a dire need of financial help and assistance, in view of a-must-solve situation that beckons on me. I approached every possible avenue to seek for help but, the more I seek, the farther it appears to be from being given. This help actually is not about looking for financial assistance from spirited individuals but, a means to borrow from whoever may be capable at the material time, to be repaid later. All avenue visited proved abortive. What a desperate situation!

I am a Christian by the grace of God and my encounter with the Church I belong (RCCG) prompted this write-up. Actually, I never solicited any form of financial assistance from our Zone/Area and I never think or even imagined that, any type or form of help will ever be rendered to me. Now, ordinarily, even without requesting for any form of help, a member in need ought to be assisted, whether he is frequent or seldom attends church, at least, to show the love of Christ to such a fellow.

Presently, our Zonal/Area Pastor is out of town. So, the rest officials told me that they will do something for me next Sunday (last Sunday) after they might have discussed with the Pastor. So, after the close of service last Sunday, the officials told me that, the Pastor said they should withhold any help/assistance they planned for me until his returns. This I am sure includes their individual help/assistance they might have summed up to render, outside the church’s help and assistance if there was. Within me in that instant, I was just laughing but seriously, I was injured. Don’t forget that I never expected anything to be done for me but, for the Pastor to insist that all help/assistance should be put on hold until his returns begins to pile up series questions in me. What will the help of the Church be at a time it is no longer important? What will the presence of the Pastor do when the time help and assistance was required has elapse? What consolation will I be granted after solving the problem I needed to solve at the time the Pastor was absent? What help will be of value to a dead man who was denied help while alive? Does it mean that, a Church cannot render help unless the Pastor is at the forefront? These and many more were the questions that ran on my mind instantly.

In this desperate situation I found myself, I approached a Muslim colleague of mine to ask for help, and once I asked, he opened his bowels of help to a Christian friend and colleague in dire need of help and assistance, without any question or rejection. This then makes me to wonder, why is our Christian community always condemning the Muslim community under every circumstance? If a Muslim friend can do what a Christian Pastor said until he is around before he will do, which actually will never be done, in view of the volume involved, why can’t the Nigerian Christian and Muslim community live in PEACE for God sake?

There’s no body in life that does not require help at one time or the other. Therefore, the one you see on the ground today will be on the top tomorrow. Always think of the ways to positively affect the lives of the people around you without binging religious sentiment to divide and tears us apart. With sincere love, we can live together in peace irrespective of the religion we practice.

May God bless Nigeria

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