Lonely Eyes
10 Jun
I’m torn.
I love to give away money. I suppose I take a bit of sinful pride in giving away money because it makes me feel like a good Christian. I realize that’s counterproductive, but I love to give money to those who really need it and don’t have it.
Just saying that feels really contrary to Scripture, but I have got a point. I won’t bore you with the causes that we donate to, but suffice to say that we really don’t give that much. Probably quite a bit less than we should.
While I enjoy giving money away, I also obviously have some appreciation for and attraction to the green stuff myself.
I’ve been struggling for several weeks with the idea of sponsoring a child from either WorldVision or Compasssion Int’l. Both of these are fine organizations. Both do d a great job. I would sponsor twenty kids if I were really able, but right now we’re not that well off.
But I’m torn, because a new concept has been presented to me tonight.
I could sponsor a native missionary through Gospel for Asia. $30 a month to pay about 25% of the cost of a native missionary in the Asian world.
God has not given me any peace about which agency to choose to sponsor a kid through. What does that mean? I see their lonely eyes and I long to improve life for one of them. Honduras or Indonesia, probably, but that aside, there are so many…
Obviously, there’s a lot up in the air during the next couple of weeks.
Like
I vote for a kid, but only because I have been wanting to do that for, what, 10 years now.
But, either one is fine!
Camilla and I dream of the day when we can afford to do this kind of stuff. God bless you guys for meeting these kinds of needs.
I don’t mean to be a jerk, but why does God have to give you a peace about which one to support?? We’re just told to remember the poor and to share the gospel. I know WorldVision and Compassion are both doing a good work in individual kids’ lives, both empowering communities to rise above poverty, but most importantly, reaching people with the gospel. Gospel for Asia is probably doing a similar work too. I doubt if you will be judged for sending your money to the wrong one.
When I was at North Greenville, we had a missions conference for which the main speaker was Dr. Samuel Thomas (i think), from India. Too often people think that they may want to go overseas or something, so they say, “I’ll pray about it.” And thats all they ever do.
Over and over, he said, “Don’t pray about it. Just go!” I doubt if Jonah had a peace about going to Ninevah. Obviously $30 a month is not as big of a decision as that, but I think the same principle applies.
Brandon – Okay.
Going without praying would be insane. Praying about whether to go or not MIGHT be valid, but I think there’s a presumption there that I’m not willing to concede. Not all are called to go. Some are called to send. Otherwise we would have a few hundred thousand or million missionaries with no one supporting them.
Some are burdened about poverty. This is a part of God’s direction in their life, because the “burdens” God gives us are an indicator of the things he desires for us to participate in. Some are burdened about other “causes”. These are an indication of the will of God in their life.
The call to “go” does not “work out” in the same fashion in every believer’s life. To presume such would be a mistake.
I agree, I probably won’t be judged for choosing the wrong one. I’m not sure that I would be “judged” if I choose to not contribute to ANY of these three, but rather to send $30 a month to my local homeless shelter or to a pregnancy support center. I would be judged if I refused to give my money to the work of God, but I don’t think that there is any certain “path” that I have to follow for that money. That’s why they are called “gifts”. I prefer to give out of my heart, rather than because I feel forced, but I am careful to give to ministries that I feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit guiding me to do. Just because I haven’t necessarily been given that nudge yet doesn’t mean I’m unwilling or uncaring or ignoring God’s call. Maybe I’m growing from being a pretty small branch.
The point wasn’t to say that praying is useless. Or that one shouldn’t pray before making a decision. Or that you are unwilling, uncaring or ignoring God’s call. I really didn’t mean that at all. But I am confused about something–where in God’s word does it speak of the Spirit nudging us to do something? Or that our burdens are indicators of God’s will for our lives? I’m seriously asking.
Brandon – Those are fair and valid questions, and I don’t have a text to offer right off the top to answer that. A lot of my mentality regarding this comes from Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God, but I don’t mean to put that forward as “Scripture”. My beliefs here are rooted in a conviction that God “speaks” to Christians today through His Word, through the church, through circumstances, and through prayer to reveal His “will”. To be honest, I don’t know that the idea of “God’s will for your life” is even present in Scripture; I think it’s a manmade invention which furthers the idea of a spiritual hierarchy; God’s will is that all should come to repentance, and even those of us who lean to Reformed Theology do not deny that in effect, the invitation is open to all who will come. THAT’S God’s “will” for us, is that we should believe in His Son. A lot of people become so obsessed with “finding God’s will for their life” that they are of absolutely no use to the kingdom until God wakes them up in the middle of the night and says “THOU SHALT BE A DRIVE-THRU ATTENDANT AT MCDONALDS” and then they are happy to do that and nothing more for the rest of their life, since “that’s God’s will for my life”. I call that malarkey, but it’s how a LOT of people regard “God’s leading.”
I believe that God leads us every day, every moment, and sometimes we follow, sometimes we don’t. I may choose today to live in sin in such a way that the future is changed drastically. However, I can still choose to follow Christ fully tomorrow, even though what COULD have been will never be, due to my sin of today. “The will of God” is a continually changing flux, depending on our reactions to His leading, all the while understanding that He is fully sovereign.
Those are just my thoughts. I will see where my “Scriptural basis” is as soon as I have a good chance. Thanks for the conversation!