And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out you will be welcomed into the eternal homes. (Luke 16:9)
I stepped over a Cuban palm that fell on the porch in Zimbabwe. Yesterday, it flaunted a bowtie of waxy seed tendrils festooned below the fronds. Today, it lies dead on the path. White ants (African termites) chewed through it at the soil line, and the remains will be dismantled by all manner of bugs and bacteria. Everything is eaten by something in Africa.
In Western cultures people want to devour my time. In the developing nations it’s my belongings that are tugged apart. This one wants a pair of shoes, another wants money for an operation. If I always say yes, I’ll soon be dismantled and returned to the earth. How would Christ have me give so it results in permanent life, rather than reabsorption by consuming organisms?
For some years, the Zimbabwean mission ran a clinic that treated thousands free of charge. Then we began including counseling and prayer as the last steps of treatment.
The sickly poor came many kilometers on foot, bicycles, and even in wheelbarrows. It was like they only asked for the physical consonants of L and F. We added the spiritual vowels of I and E, and for the first time they received the whole of LIFE. Our goal was to bring them to Christ for eternity, and medical treatment attracted them to the permanent gift.
My charity must be as much eternal as it is temporal. Every hug, word, and dollar must point to heaven. To do less only makes souls comfortable while they wait for an eternity of hell.
Prayer: Father, make me a giver of things eternal.