Help wanted

Apply Immediately: Kids needed to be disciples and healers.

Job Description: Adventures in helping others.

Qualifications: Any age. Must love God and want to do good things.

Does this sound like something for you? Here's more information about the job.

The Bible tells about people who heard Jesus talk about God and believed what he said. They went with him and learned from his teaching. Then those followers, or disciples, did things that proved the power of God, like Jesus did.

The Bible tells a lot about the men disciples, but Jesus taught women, too. They followed him and stuck with him when he was crucified. They also did good deeds like he did. You can read about one particular disciple named Tabitha (see Acts 9:36-41).

You may be thinking, "Man, I couldn't do the things Jesus did. He traveled around and healed people of diseases and sin."

But listen to what Jesus said. He was talking to his disciples - and to us today - and he said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also" (John 14:12). Seems like he was encouraging everyone to love and heal people the way he did.

Jesus knew that God was his Father, and the Father of each of us. He told everyone who would listen that God was a loving and good Father, who would always take care of us.

One day he told his disciples the most amazing thing: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). He was saying that we can be as perfect as our Father God is perfect. Sure, Jesus knew that people were sometimes doing bad things. But he also knew that this wasn't the way God ever made them to be. He knew the children God made are perfect like their Father. Because Jesus was so sure of this, he healed people when they were sick or doing wrong.

A book that tells how Jesus healed people, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," which Mary Baker Eddy wrote, says that when Jesus healed people, it was because he saw them as perfect, as the image of God. He didn't worry about what his eyes saw and his ears heard about someone. He just saw everyone the way God saw them. This kind of seeing healed people. This is on pages 476-477 of the book.

As a disciple today, that's what you can do. You travel around every day - to school, to the mall, to games, to other places. You see or hear about kids who are in tough situations. A boy might be sick. A girl might be in trouble. Or you might need help yourself. Whatever you see that doesn't seem like something a good, loving God would do, you can say to yourself, "I can help here."

Then you can pray. There are lots of ways to pray. One way is to think about, and really try to understand, how God is a perfect, loving, good Father to each of us. Nothing is bigger or stronger than God is, so nothing can change how He made us.

We are always just as perfect as God made us. Sure, it might look like someone is in trouble.... But you can do what Science and Health says Jesus did. You can say to yourself, "Right here, God is keeping that boy, that girl, me, perfect." You can pray by thinking how much God loves the boy. How God is taking care of the girl. And how grateful you are God made you perfect.

And then stick with your prayer. Don't quit on it.

I have a friend who felt really sick one day. While he was lying down, he started to think about being made perfect by God. He didn't look or feel like he was very perfect. But he knew that's how God made him. He had to be perfect, no matter how his tummy and head felt. He kept on thinking about how perfect he was, because of God. That's a prayer.

Soon he was well.

You can be a disciple and healer. Want to sign on?

Little children, let us not love

in word, neither in tongue;

but in deed and in truth.

I John 3:18

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society