Sometimes it’s OK to be manipulated…

• Proverbs 28:27 (NKJV) He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

Yesterday we had a special guest group as a part of our worship service: The Children of the World (A ministry of World Help // see below).  

Predictably they touched a deep emotional chord in our hearts.

I was reminded of a couple of lessons from that experience.  The first is: Do not be afraid to open your heart to emotional manipulation.  (The second lesson will be tomorrow.)

Because of so many negative examples we have turned the word “manipulation” mostly into a negative word.  However, the word manipulation simply means to manage or influence skillfully.

Of course this can be done in an unfair or unethical way but it can be done with integrity and to serve a noble purpose.  That is what happened yesterday.  World Help intentionally set out to emotionally touch us so that we would hopefully respond to the desperate needs that they represented.  The good news is that they were very successful.  The people of the FMCOG were greatly blessed and also greatly blessed the ministry of World Help and thus many lives will be better because they skillfully influenced us to give to a noble and righteous cause.

Bottom line: don’t allow the negative examples of selfish and unethical manipulation to turn you into a hard-hearted cynic.  If you do you and many others will be the losers.

If you had to risk erring, I’d err on the side of being taken advantage of.  In the end God will make right any injustice done to you and in the meantime you’ve kept your soul pure.

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World Help: A faith-based humanitarian organization that exists to serve the physical and spiritual needs of people in impoverished communities around the world. www.worldhelp.net