Help Wanted

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:9-17 ESV). Imagine that you just moved to a new city. You have to make new friends, but you don't know where to start. The loneliness begins to surround you. Or suppose one of your parents is an alcoholic. He or she comes home drunk one night, verbally abuses you, and threatens you physically. Picture yourself eating lunch with some acquaintances when the topic turns to religion. One of them asks you why you believe in Jesus. You know that most of the people at the table are not Christians. All of these situations and many more call us to feel like we need help. Sometimes we are desperate for help. We look around for some source to pull us through the tough times. But where do we go? How do we know what to do? What gives us the strength to do what is right? I thought about this issue the other day as I drove past a restaurant. Out by the road was a sign that read, Help Wanted. Inquire Within. The restaurant manager was obviously trying to fill a need, and he wanted people to come in so he could determine who fit the requirements. He was looking for help. There is a huge difference between what that restaurant manager did and what we should do when we need help. We don't have to put out a Help Wanted sign. According to our Bible reading for today, if we are followers of Jesus Christ we already have help within. We have the Spirit of God to give us assistance. He is ready, willing, and able to help us in our times of need. He even assists us when we try to tell God what we need and we're so confused that we don't even know what it is. If help is wanted in your life today, inquire within; turn to the Holy Spirit.