We Need Your Help, Not Hell.

Not long ago, as I was composing an email, I mistakenly typed “we need your hell.”

Um, yeah, not what I intended.

Of course, what I MEANT to say was “we need your HELP.”

Quite a difference, wouldn’t you say?

Fortunately, I caught and corrected this major blunder before it went out.

I am not too fond of requesting hell in my life, nor receiving its devastating manifestation.

I would like to keep all hellishness far from me.

I started thinking.

How often do we inadvertently offer someone “Hell,” when they are in dire need of “Help?”

It happens, unfortunately, more often than we would like to admit.

Hell…

We are all familiar with the usual depictions of this wretched place. Most of us think of fire, misery, eternal torture, with a devil and numerous demons in charge of that misery and torture.

Scripture has a lot to say about Hell, its inhabitants, and its anguish…

“And will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:42

“And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”

Revelation 19:20

Let’s not also forget the disturbing element of when we sin, and how it’d be better if we RID ourselves of body parts that would cause us to sin…

“If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”

Matthew 18:9

“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”

Matthew 5:29-30

"Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! "If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. "If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”

Matthew 18:7-9

Yeah. Vivid. We get the picture.

But there is also a very human component to hell as well.

I believe it was the writer, John-Paul Sartre that famously declared…

Endearing.

And sometimes, yes, honest?

How many of us have been hell on wheels for another person?

What’s the expression?

“If you cannot help, then, at least, don’t hinder.”

Yeah.

How many times have you and I been in the “hindering/hell” club, rather than the “help club?”

I’m thinking of a few instances, just this past weekend, that lump me in that hellish lot.

The Good Samaritan…

We know all about this parable (Luke 10:27-37).

27 “And he answering said, ‘Thou shalt love(Elohim) the Lord thy (Most High) God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.’

28 And he said unto him, ‘Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.’

29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto (Yashua) Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’

30 And (Yahshua) Jesus answering said, ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, ‘Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.’

36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?’

37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said (Yahshua) Jesus unto him, ‘Go, and do thou likewise.’”

That is the definition of “Help,” the Help that we need to give. Instead of “giving ‘em hell.”

Breaking it down a bit?

First, awareness of our neighbor (Verses 27-29).

We are not the center of the universe (and I say that as an only child).

Awareness that someone needs our help, someone needs what only comes from us, leads our choices further from hell and closer to the help we were created to execute.

 Awareness. See a need. Meet it.

A poor soul being robbed, beaten, “left for dead?”

Yeah, I’d call that a need, begging to be met.

Adding further harmful insult to the real injury need?

The Passersby.

The person who could have done something to really help… and chose not to.

Ands that’s you and me.

We have all “passed by.” Sometimes, it’s even a serious need, begging for attention.

Right now.

After all, Proverbs 3:28 is quite clear…

“Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,’ When you have it with you.”

When You Have It In Your Power…

And we have more power than we realize.

Maybe sometimes, we even know that we can help. But we don’t.

Because?

We don’t want to…

It’s inconvenient…

It’s too expensive…

“Someone else” will do it…

All of these “reasons?” What are they, really?

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

James 4:17

Sin? Yikes.

Back to the Good Samaritan.

An unlikely, even undesirable, candidate to help. People from “Samaria” had an unflattering reputation. Not the sort of people that should be interacting with the more “chosen.”

Not the sort of people that should “help.”

Scripture states how The Good Samaritan went above and beyond helping (Verses 33-35).

More than just the bare minimum.

And long story short, that is what Our Savior calls US to do (Verse 37).

“ …‘Go, and do thou likewise.’”

Hence… what you do to the least of these…

“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

Matthew 25:40

We can make a helpful choice, or a hellish one.

Let’s remember, again, hell…

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Matthew 23:15

Yay, more fun. Twice as much a son of hell, huh?

Pile On With the Pharisee?

“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”

Matthew 23:33

We can achieve that ugly result, embodying more of the Pharisee spirit than is pleasing to look at.

It’s not just a case of looking and acting like a hypocrite. It is sobering caution to each one of us.

We choose not to love. We choose to reject… The Most High?

Fear of Man, Fear of Him, Fear of Hell?

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Matthew 10:28

Yep. Hell, yet again.

Some Good News?

Before we feel like the most disgusting of worms, only hell bound, there is one powerful Truth we need to accept and cling to…

“And the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

Revelation 1:18

Our Savior: Yahshua. He is The Distress Call.

“…‘I called out of my distress to (Elohim) the Lord,

And He answered me.

I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;

You heard my voice.’”

Jonah 2:2

The distress call. How will we answer it?

He is calling to us right now. He’s heard our call to Him, through painful life experiences.

Help, Not Hell…

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.”

Ecclesiastes 9:10

He is waiting for us right now.

Help is waiting. He will save and help us. We need to help others from there.

Let’s pray.

Yahshua-

I come to You.

You know I need help. Your Help.

You know I need You.

Not just to avoid hell and damnation, but to live the life You want me to live.

Thank You for dying for me, for paying the price of every sin I ever committed, including those that were more aligned with hell than with help.

Forgive me. I have been thoughtless, arrogant, unloving, and ungrateful.

That is why I am where I am now.

That is why I need help.

That is why I am not helpful to others, sinning against Your Will for my life.

Help me, from here on out. Help me to change Your Way.

Be my leading and guiding Savior and Shepherd.

Be merciful, close, and constant to me, as I relearn what Your Help looks like.

Thank You for going to hell for me, literally.

I accept You, Your Love, Your Help, and Your Direction in my life.

Thank You.

Amen.

Copyright © 2025 by Sheryle Cruse