Yesterday, I had the opportunity of going to an area in The Philippines that was honestly the poorest place i’ve ever seen. The kids were covered in dirt, clearly very malnourished, sick, walking around barefoot on trash and glass, some had no clothing, uneducated and stuck in the cycle of poverty. I got to work alongside a team of people that weekly go there and provide food and the love of Jesus to these people. They are the real heroes. I saw how much these kids and these people trusted the individuals that were a part of the team that go every single week.
I really was hit with the reality of Matthew 25 where Jesus says, “when you’ve done to the least of these you’ve done it to me.” I switched my perspective of these are just people or these are just kids, to this is Jesus right in front of me in the form of a sick child. I left the feeding we did very frustrated and confused. How could I go back to my normal living after seeing such poverty? What could really be done so that these kids don’t have to stay in this cycle of poverty? I can feed them all day, but how much am I helping them if I don’t teach them how to get out of this cycle. I wanted to fix them, fix the situation. I wanted the kids I saw to have proper care and love. I wanted the women I saw and spoke with to feel proud of their beautiful smiles, and not look away from being ashamed of where they were. I wanted better for all of them.
As I was praying I just heard, “I didn’t ask you to fix them I asked you to feed them, to clothe them, to give them water, to welcome them, to make sure no one feels like a stranger when they are around, to simply love them, to bring family to them.” I was brought to tears when I heard that, because God was showing me I’m no one’s savior. He is, and I have to trust that He will take care of them. I just have to be willing to do my part in helping.
Poverty is a mindset. A vicious cycle that cant be resolved from one feeding or simply one missions trip. However, choosing to love with no restraints, choosing to call people higher, to call people by their identity in Christ instead of their situation can break the cycle. A cycle is just a mind set that needs to be broken, and a mind set can be broken when truth floods into a mind.
Realizing that my voice, your voice, our voices can bring healing to people is a powerful tool. It says in Psalms that our words are trees of life that bring healing to people. How we speak and interact with those around us can bring healing into their lives.
I know the reality of poverty can be overwhelming, and it feels impossible to combat. However, God says the Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit. God is near to the poor and valiantly fights on their behalf. He fights on all of our behalf. However, we cannot allow the overwhelmingness of poverty to cause us to not do anything. You don’t have to go over seas to find people who are hurting, who are poor, who are broken. Go right outside your house, go to work, go to where hurting people are. They are all around us. Feed them, clothe them, give them water, make them feel like they are in family with you and not a stranger. I don’t only mean literally I mean spiritually as well. You can feed people without one piece of food, but by speaking life and the word of God over their lives, you can clothe people with truth, you can love people and bring them into family make them not feel alone. I say poverty is a mind set, because it’s not only physical but spiritual as well. People are spiritually starving all around us, and need you and I to show them a better way of living. The only way to do that is to be love, speak love, breathe love, become love, think love. It has been said “that the glory of God is man fully alive.” We bring glory to God when we are fully alive in the passions He has given us, and when we use the talents and gifts he has placed in our lives to make those around us feel loved. To feel at home. This life is not about us. We are not meant to live with just me, myself and I. We are made for family.
So, don’t let poverty or the problems in the world overwhelm you and cause you to do nothing. Start with your neighbors, with your co-workers, with your kids, with the person behind you in the grocery line. It’s not complex. It’s really simple. We were made for relationship, we were made for love. People crave love, to be loved, to be seen, to be heard, and we were made not only to receive that but to give that. So, go be love today because every person you see is made in the image of God, and when you do it unto them we are doing it unto the Lord. And when I get to Heaven I want to be remembered for how I loved, not for how much money I made, not for my looks, not for my mind, but for my heart and how I made people feel at home. Don’t you?
Liv
