"Laying his hands on each one, he healed them." Luke 4:40
When someone interrupts your task at hand for the sake of conversation, how do you react? If you relax and converse until the chat has natural closure, you are people oriented. If you squirm your way out with a bombardment of verbal and nonverbal clues, you are task oriented.
Jesus spent more time with people than in any other action. Though He did only 3-1/2 years to train 12 men to change the world, He spent most of His time meeting needs, helping people amid the unbearable pressure to perform tasks - and that is the model He left us. At the end of one of His busiest days it is recorded that, "When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying His hands on each one, he healed them." What is ministry all about? People or production?
Obviously much of our paperwork and production is aimed at helping people. But often there is precious little time or energy left for the people - because we are exhausted accomplishing all those tasks! Whether we like to admit it or not, paperwork, deadlines and crowded day-timers often preoccupy us and create a barrier between us and the opportunity of connecting with people and meeting their needs.
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