Hunger—Usefulness
Discover your neighbor’s passion.
People do the best at things they are excited about and feel called to.
The use itself which a person loves is what gives direction to his life and marks him off from others, an evil use making him like one in hell and a good use like one in heaven. It is not indeed the use itself that does so but the love behind it, for everyone’s life is inherent in his love. AC 4459.7
Set an example.
Lead—Follow Me.
12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:12-17
254. As I also overcame, and sit with my Father in his throne. …[2] The reason why a comparison is made of the members of the church with the Lord himself, when it is said, “He that overcometh, to him will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and sit with my Father in his throne” is, that the life of the Lord upon earth was an example according to which the members of the church were to live, as the Lord Himself also teaches in John: “I have given unto you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (xiii. 15, 17).
This is why the Lord Himself, in places, makes a comparison between Himself and His disciples, as in John: Jesus said, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love, as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (xv. 9, 10).
Again: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world” (xvii. 16, 18).
Again: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (xx. 21).
Again: “The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (xvii. 22-24, 26).
Put it immediately into practice.
Encourage initiative.
Ask your neighbor to lead this process.
Identify what need your neighbor feels called to.
Identify someone in your neighbor’s life whose need the group can meet. Make a plan.
Discuss barriers to your neighbor’s usefulness and ways to overcome them.
As a group, ask the Lord to lead your neighbor to greater usefulness.
Ask about their jobs and volunteer experiences.
Find out what skills and training they have, and what accomplishments they feel good about.
Encourage them to try a variety of tasks.
The best way to discover what we enjoy and can do well is to try it out.