“What does God expect of us?” Richard Stearns, author of the book The Hole in our Gospel, asks this thought provoking question. There are many ways we could answer this question, but Stearns asks us to consider the following expanded version of this question: Does God expect us to focus more on meeting the needs of the poor? Stearns tells of his own journey from living in the comforts of corporate America to working with orphaned children in Africa. His story and struggle ring true to many of us.
He was giving sacrificially of both his time and money to build up the work of his local church, but like the rich young ruler who spoke with Jesus in Mark 10, he realized he “lacked one thing” – a heart to help, in some way, the 1 billion people in the world who live on less than $1.00 per day (that is 15% of the world’s population!).
Stearns emphasizes the fact that Jesus cared for the whole person. Jesus met the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of people. He helped the paralytic walk – and then he forgave his sins. If we are to call ourselves disciples of Jesus, we must walk as he walked. We too must not only help people spiritually, we must also look to meet the felt needs of those less fortunate than ourselves. The saying is true – “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
When you begin to open your heart and eyes to the great needs of people – whether it be in your own neighborhood or far away in a distant land – it is a natural response to feel extremely overwhelmed and perhaps even hopeless. Stearns addresses this in his book. He quotes Bob Pierce (founder of World Vision) who once said, “Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything.” He encourages us to hold tightly to three basic truths regarding the poor and needy:
- Every one of the people in need is created in God’s image and loved by God.
- Every challenge has a solution.
- Every one of us can make a difference.
As Christians, when faced with our lack of concern for the poor, we can begin to feel like there is a hole in our own hearts. Stearns reminds us in his book that the disciples who helped change the world were sleeping in Gethsemane. Like these men, we too can change. There are many committed Christians who have responded to the call to help the poor and needy: Those who have joined HOPE worldwide’s Volunteer Corps to help repair roads after the devastating earthquake in Haiti; those who have sacrificed their vacations to serve on a Community Service Brigade in Honduras, Guatemala or Nicaragua; those who have given up lucrative medical careers in the U.S. to serve in Cambodia and Bolivia; others who have served the poor in their communities through their local HOPE worldwide Chapters; and many, many others who have given sacrificially of their earthly treasures to support the work of HOPE worldwide throughout the world.
We each can contribute in some way our time, talent and/or treasure to serve the poor and needy – and in so doing, our own hearts will be strengthened. As Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Reviewer: Catherine Shump (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), a member of the Los Angeles Church of Christ, is a Development Officer with HOPE worldwide. For more information about HOPE worldwide and its programs to help the poor and needy please visit www.hopeww.org.