Investing in people as Jesus did.
by Jennifer Stucker
Jesus didn’t preach just to crowds. He reached out to the marginalized. He touched the untouchable. Sat with the overlooked. Walked toward the hurting. He didn’t wait for someone to ask for help. He saw the need and responded with compassion and action.
Jesus invested in people by spending time with them. Not just when it was convenient. Not just when it was easy. And not only when it was public. But always with intention.
As believers, we’re called to live like Jesus, yet it’s easy for us to become distracted and forget our mission. Ephesians 5:1, 2 instructs us to “be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
It’s a calling for us to make time to truly know people beyond their roles or tasks — to listen to their stories, celebrate their wins, and walk with them in their struggles.
Falling short
Too often, the modern church becomes a place of polite distance rather than compassionate connection. We organize events, donate to good causes, and speak about love and community. But when someone close to us is truly struggling, we freeze. We hesitate. We hope someone else will step in. Instead of offering our presence or empathy, we frequently resort to familiar clichés when what’s truly needed is companionship, care, and genuine support.
James 2:15-17 reminds us:
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
The challenge is not to say the right words but to live them out.
But we fall short of that. We fill our schedules with tasks, meetings, ministry goals, family obligations, and deadlines. It becomes easy to place projects over people, but we can’t allow these things to consistently overshadow the importance of investing in others.
Jesus modeled living a life so different from this. He showed us that people are a priority, even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable. His investment in others wasn’t through powerful words alone but through presence, sacrifice, and action. He did more than talk about love, grace, and truth; He embodied them.
Jesus didn’t rush past people in need. He stopped. He noticed. He stayed. Jesus paused for the bleeding woman, knelt with children, and looked Zacchaeus in the eye. He met people where they were: on boats, at wells, in trees, on the margins. He touched the untouchable. He forgave the unforgivable. He ate with them, walked with them, and knew them deeply. He made time for interruptions because people were the mission. Matthew writes that when two blind men called out to Jesus, He stopped and healed them (20:29-34).
It’s not that we’re heartless. It’s that real investment can be messy. It takes time and requires us to reorder our priorities. It pulls us out of our comfort zones. And yet, if the church can’t be a sanctuary for her own people in pain, then we’re merely noise (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Real love
Real love is inconvenient. It might look like bringing someone a meal who never asked. It might be sitting with a grieving friend in silence because there’s nothing to fix, only someone to be with. It might be covering a bill, watching their kids, praying with them, or just showing up when no one else does.
It has become easier to text encouraging words than to stop by for a personal visit. Technology has made communication faster, but it’s also made compassion easier to fake. We can “like” a post and feel that we’ve supported someone. We can send a praying hands emoji and think we’ve done our part. But presence matters. A screen can’t hug someone. A text can’t hold a hand. Encouragement is valuable, but real presence and connection are transformational.
First John 3:17, 18 urges us to love beyond words, to demonstrate it through action and truth. Being present in someone’s life over time, sitting with them in their pain without offering easy fixes, is what truly reflects the love of Jesus.
Immediate needs
We pray for opportunities to serve. We ask God to use us. We look outward, eager to make a difference in the world. But sometimes, God answers those prayers with opportunities right in front of us, giving us the chance to show compassion and love to people in our immediate circles.
To the sister in Christ battling a serious health crisis.
To the brother who is quietly grieving.
To the elderly member who can no longer come to church on their own.
To the teen who feels disconnected, sitting on the sidelines.
To the family at church that hasn’t been around lately.
God sees them. Do we?
The mission field doesn’t always involve traveling far away. It’s often as close as the person sitting beside you in church or the colleague working next to you in the office. We often overlook the needs around us because we are looking for bigger, more dramatic opportunities. But the quiet acts of kindness and the willingness to step into someone’s pain are some of the most impactful ways we can embody the love of Jesus.
We should follow Paul’s approach: “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 8).
Call to action
Think of someone in your church, your workplace, or your neighborhood who is going through something difficult. It’s not always the one who broadcasts their struggles but perhaps someone who is silent and withdrawn. Reach out to them. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Text them and stop by. Write a card and sit beside them. Pray for them and with them. Don’t wait for a perfect moment; just show up.
Jesus has invited you to do good works, so don’t wait for an invitation. Jesus didn’t wait. He came close to us when we were still far away, and He calls us to do the same. Take the initiative to reach out. Be the one who shows up when everyone else is too busy. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Sometimes the hardest part of showing up is overcoming the fear of making someone uncomfortable or not knowing exactly what to say. But our presence matters more than our words. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25:36, “ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
When we show up for each other, we are fulfilling the law of Christ, which is to love one another as He has loved us. Because Jesus didn’t stay at a distance. He came close. And He calls us to do the same.
The church is called to care for the world and for her own. When one part of the body suffers, we all feel it. When one of us is struggling, we should lean in instead of stepping back. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).
Let’s be a church that doesn’t just speak love. We live it.
Let’s be a people who don’t just mean well. We do well.
Let’s show up when others don’t, offering love that goes beyond words to actions — from intention to presence. Let’s be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who need to know they’re not alone.
