“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).

As we look at this verse, we see that God has done wonderful things for us by putting us upon this earth. God created us, both young and old, disabled and not disabled. We all have a place on this earth. Especially those who have special needs who need special care. God has a place for these people on this earth. We are to care for them, to treat them with respect, and to make them feel accepted. That is what I would like to explore in detail.

Look around you and count how many special needs adults and children you see. Have you even thought about how they feel at times? These people want to be included and we just sit back and ignore them. People of God, we are Christians and we are commanded by God to be kind, polite and to be respectful to them. That is what we are to do. We must respect them, and it is sad that we do not do these things to these special people.

Psalm 133: 1 tells us, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity!”

Unity, right there, plain and simple, before our eyes. We know that there ought to be unity among us, all Christians alike. We are united by God, and that includes the covenant, our children and adults. Our disabled people cannot just stand in the corner, alone. They too are a part of that covenant and they too are a part of that unity.

I put forth to you a challenge. A challenge that we can all do to help out these people. Why don’t you go to them and invite them over to your house for dinner a couple of times during the week? Take them to a ball game or go bowling with them. They would really like that. Take some time off and get to know these special people. And when you do something like this, you know they will be happy and they will love you for it. Don’t just let them stand there, include them, that is what God tells us to do.

Look at the parable of the wedding feast. The servants went out to gather the bad and the good, and that also includes the ones who are maimed, blind and other problems they might have. There will be people in heaven who did have disabilities, but not anymore. In heaven there is no disability, no wrinkles, no blemishes that cover our spiritual bodies.

We are so privileged to have such people in our Protestant Reformed churches. We are thankful for them. They are a special part of our church and we must honor that. We are not to be ashamed of them, they are a part of the church. We are to constantly pray for them, and when the collection for the Protestant Reformed Special Education comes around, put a little bit more in that collection plate.

Take up that challenge, do something for them, let us do the right thing for once. God loves these special people and we must always love them. Go to the Special Needs Program, there you will see that they can do something. They sing, they read, they can play music and they are happy in spite of their disability. God loves them in each special way. These people are happy, they are happy because God is with them every step of the way. They are ready to die, because in heaven, there is no disability, they are perfect and they know that God will be there to protect them.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8).