Generosity

The lady in the photo reminds of a time when I went on a missions trip to Mexico with our church youth group.  I was 15 years old at the time and the trip still holds valuable lessons for life.  We drove a school bus from Detroit, Michigan to a location 150 miles north of Mexico City, Mexico to work with some missionaries from our church.  We had about a week to work on the church building, run a vacation Bible school, make home visits, preach my first sermon in a small village church with an interpreter, and to take in the scenery.  It was a summer trip to Mexico and we were not allowed to wear short pants. 

Many of the home visits were made on foot and at one point we even took a boat to ford a river.  At one of the ladies homes, she was so honored that we came to her place that she rolled out the red carpet for us.  It was a hut and we sat outside in chairs that were hand made.  The situation and moment was very foreign to us all and we were coached to always show great gratitude for every act of kindness.  We were made to feel like celebrities everywhere the missionaries would take us.  This specific lady wanted to show her generosity but she had very, very little to her name.  She went inside her house and brought out a large armful of oranges--it was all she had to share.  They were not the same shape, size, or color that I was used to seeing in the supermarket.  We all accepted them with great gratitude and enjoyed them.

That sister in Christ not only ministered to us but she worshiped Jesus Christ in her great generosity.  It has taken nearly 35 years from that moment to fully appreciate what it means to give almost all you have to love on someone else.  After all, that is not the American way.  I'll never see that sister in Christ again as she is probably with the Lord now.  We couldn't even speak the same language but I did understand the language of love.  Although most of us would not think of ourselves as having much, how generous are we?  Are the things that we have from Jesus Christ truly on loan from Him for a period of time?  How will we use them to build and advance the Kingdom of God?  Imagine if we all gave freely towards one another and God's work then what the world would look like?

Missionary, Jim Elliot, who lost his life in a brutal attack by the people he was trying to reach while on the mission field, once said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."  Is our life a mission for Jesus Christ?

Jesus Christ once said in Matthew 25:31-40, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’