Acts 16:9 has the answer. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’
Finally! Someone needs us!
And when he had seen the vision, immediately we (that’s a clue Luke had just joined Paul’s team) sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (16:10)
And that’s how the gospel came to Europe.
I conclude from this that someone in Macedonia was praying for help–of some kind; maybe he/she knew what they were asking for or perhaps it was a general cry to the Heavens–and the Holy Spirit picked up the signal and relayed it to Paul and his team.
What you should do (for yourself)
Cry for help.
That’s the best thing that happens in a worker’s day. Someone needs me. I’ll not have another day of marking time, doing busy work, shuffling papers, filling out the endless reports that comes with denominational work. I can do something that actually makes a difference for someone.
The best you can do for yourself is also the hardest thing for a pastor or staff member or lay leader to do: to call out for help. Don’t ask me why. Is it pride or is it ignorance (“I don’t know what help I need!”) or something else entirely? When one does ask for help, even if it’s only from a colleague in the same town, everyone wins.
Long ago in seminary, classmate Bill Lowe asked for my help in Hebrew. He was a dozen years older than me and had been out of school a long time. “This Hebrew is killing me,” he said. “I need to study with someone.”
We all lived on campus at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary within a block of one another. Thereafter, we began studying together several nights a week. That’s how I made a life-changing discovery about the best thing you can do for yourself. In helping Bill with his classwork, I was helping myself.
Nothing makes a lesson clear up in one’s mind like trying to explain it to another.
I have no memory what grade Bill Lowe (who went on to pastor in Georgia and eventually served as associational director of missions before God took him to Heaven) made on that course. I made an A. And it was all because of his cry for help.
Calling for assistance is a win/win proposition. Everyone benefits.
Now, pick up the phone. Or go on-line. Ask for help. I dare you to do the best thing you can do for yourself.
Someone will appreciate it.
This article on the best thing you can do for yourself originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
