“Can You Spare a Moment?”

Often a question like that means an interruption. Though you may be willing to give a moment of your precious time to listen or to help someone, how genuine is your gift? Do you give of yourself along with your time?

What a delinquent boy said about a teacher who won him over illustrates the point nicely. “He’s got dozens of kids waiting to see him,” said the boy, “but when you’re in there with him, you feel as though you’re the only one in the world he cares about.”

Therein lies the key to reaching people​—the willingness to give of yourself totally. The apostle Paul demonstrated such willingness in his efforts to help others when he said: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those under law I became as under law . . . To those without law I became as without law . . . To the weak I became weak . . . I have become all things to people of all sorts, that I might by all means save some.”​—1 Corinthians 9:20-22.

When you take time to help someone, do you think about the quality as well as the quantity?