I asked Jamie to jot down some thoughts from the past couple of days. Jamie is a sixteen-year old that I attend church with in New Albany. He and his brother Joseph are two of the four guys that accompanied me on this trip. Please forgive the format...we are dealing with 3rd world technology.
Unsearchable Riches
There is more poverty in this land than I could have imagined. There have been
many times that I have wanted to sit down and weep. But the riches of Christ
shine brightly in the face of poverty. The poor and beggarly souls are invited
to stretch out their poor and withered hands to the Savior.
The bitter cup of poverty is a small taste of the emptiness of the soul, and
the hopelessness of the poor is nothing compared to the hopelessness of the
enemy of Christ. To be without God is to be without hope. But God, who is rich
in mercy, is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.
We have been given so much; we have been given all things in Christ. Why are
we so slow to take up our crosses and follow Him? When He commands us to leave
all and follow Him, it is like telling a prisoner to leave His chains, the
debtor to leave His debt, and the beggar to leave His scraps so that He might
come to the feast. Oh, that we might live as beggars and pilgrims in this life
that we might be kings in the next. We might beg ourselves rich by the grace
that is in Christ.
Ultimately, the rich have nothing more than the poor. Either we have Christ,
or we have nothing. What are all the treasures of this life when we die?
Christ is all in all. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where
thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20) We who have nothing are
freely offered to buy the pearl of greatest price.
Look to the face of Christ, not the hand of providence. The LORD is all love
to His people. There have been moments were I questioned the sovereign love of
God to the Christians in Ethiopia. But it is high treason against the King to
lodge bitter thoughts about Christ. Circumstances may be dark to our eyes, but
the Sun of righteousness is all light. "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is
good!"
