You would have done the same

This past weekend we traveled to Michigan for a wedding and on the way back to Wisconsin, we received a phone call from an individual we had met the night before. She was on her way back to Milwaukee and experienced car troubles on the interstate. She was just outside of Chicago and had pulled over in the midst of busy four-lane traffic. She was distraught and didn't know what to do, so we rushed to rescue her.

We were anxiously looking forward to getting back home to see our children. It had already been a very long weekend, but we knew we needed to help her. By the time we had called a tow truck, went to the repair shop and dropped her off at a relative's house in the area, we had added nearly four hours to our trip and pushed our ETA back to well after our kid's bed time. Knowing full well that was going to be the case, we felt blessed to help.

Often times, in similar situations, I've heard the helper respond to the many thanks with, "you would have done the same." Maybe that's true, but it misses the point and is motivated by false pretense. The big question is: will you still offer help if you know they, in fact, wouldn't do the same? I love the idea of paying it forward, but that's not what Jesus did. He straight-up paid it. As a Christ follower, I shouldn't be helping others resting in the comfort that someone will, in turn, help me sometime. I should just help others. Period.