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Before You Can Help Others
Leviticus 16:6
"And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house."
The key to being happy in the Christian life is keeping God first, others second and yourself last. When you realize that helping others is where fulfillment comes from, then you will find the true joy and happiness that you desire. However, you cannot help others without helping yourself first. Let me explain.
When God told Aaron to offer a sin offering, He told him to "...make an atonement for himself, and for his house." Notice that before Aaron was to atone for his house he had to atone for himself. Again, when God told Aaron to offer a sin offering for the people, He said in verse 24 to "...make an atonement for himself, and for the people." In both instances Aaron had to take care of himself before he could help others. Yes, the goal was to help others, but until he got himself right he could not help others with their sins.
Likewise, you will never accomplish helping others without getting yourself right. No, you will never be sinless, but you must work on yourself before you have the authority to help others. For instance, it would be hard for me to tell someone how to lose weight if I was overweight. The greatest way I can help others lose weight is to make sure that my weight is healthy. Your ability to help others comes when you get right first.
Before you can help your family, you must get yourself right. Too many family members try to correct the problems in their family when they have their own issues that they need to correct. Parents, yes you are to correct your children and lead them in the right paths of life, but you will have a hard time helping them put their life together if yours is falling apart. When your marriage is on the brink of disaster, you will have a hard time helping your children do right. This is why you must keep your marriage strong and be sure to get help when your marriage is struggling. If the husband wants to lead the home, then he needs to lead himself to do right. If the wife wants to have a positive influence on her husband and children, then she needs to be sure that she works on correcting her problems first. If a youth wants to have a positive influence on their family, then they need to be sure they do right before they start preaching to the whole family.
Furthermore, before you can help others, you must be sure you are right. Many churches are filled with people trying to help others get out of sin, when those who are helping are still living in sin. I'm all for you trying to help others get their lives together, but you need to be sure you have everything right. You will never be the Sunday school teacher, bus worker, youth worker or pastor that others need you to be without focusing on getting yourself right.
Before you can help others, you must work on getting yourself right. I am not saying that you should never go soul winning or try to help others because you aren't perfect, but I am saying the greatest way to help others is to be sure you work on yourself first. When you work on yourself, then others will see the improvements in your life, and that will give you the credibility to help others.