Have you heard of the old adage: God helps those who help themselves…? The latest version of that adage is: ‘God helps those who help others. Don’t ask me why or how. Just read this story and you will know.
A wealthy man pulled out a bag of gold coins and dangled it in front of the guard posted at the entry to heaven when he failed to gain easy access into heaven. ‘This is of no use here,’ clarified the guard. ‘You have to face God,’ so saying the guard escorted him for an audience with God.
The wealthy man threw tantrums as soon as he met God. He started shouting: ‘I was a rich and powerful man on earth. But your guard refused to let me in. He says I must take a look at hell before pleading for a place in heaven. This is an insult to me. I demand an explanation for all this.’
God simply smiled at the arrogance of the man and pacified him: ‘Son, heaven is meant for selfless people…people who are considerate towards others…people who help others. We do not like to have any selfish people here. It is true that you were rich and powerful on earth. But you were also very selfish, appropriating assets that rightfully belonged to others. If we let you in here, it might pollute the atmosphere of heaven…and that is something I cannot allow…’
‘I don’t believe this,’ protested the wealthy man. ‘Can you prove what you are saying?’ he asked God.
‘Come with me,’ said God leading the wealthy man to hell.
The purgatory was full of souls of selfish people. God sent in a huge pot of porridge and all the inhabitants of hell rushed in to get their share. He gave each of them a spoon with a very long handle so that they could eat it. Each one of them rushed in and scooped up as much of porridge as the could without bothering to see if that would leave sufficient porridge for others to share. However, when they tried to eat the porridge, they ran into trouble. The handles were so long that it was impossible to feed oneself with it. This went on for hours but no one was able to feed oneself.
God looked at the wealthy man for an explanation.
‘That is because you made it impossible for them to feed themselves by handing them spoons with such long handles,’ complained the wealthy man.
‘Now, please come with me,’ invited God and led him to heaven. He sent in a similar pot of porridge there. But, no one rushed towards the pot. They were disciplined in their approach. Like the inhabitants of hell, they too were given spoons with long handles. What followed next took the wealthy man by surprise. Each of them scooped up a decent serving of porridge ensuring that there was enough left for the others. The interesting part was that instead of trying to feed themselves, they started feeding others using the spoons with long handles. By doing that everyone was able to enjoy the porridge.
The inhabitants of heaven and hell were served porridge in similar pots and all of them got similar spoons to feed themselves. While those in heaven managed to enjoy the porridge by being selfless, those in hell could not enjoy it because of their selfishness.
The wealthy man realised what God meant when he said that he did not want to pollute the atmosphere of heaven by introducing selfishness into it.
God helps those who help others! It is selfless people that God likes to have around him in heaven—not selfish people like the wealthy man!
