This morning I was describing the scene below to my wife and it brought tears to her eyes, confirming that I had married the right woman and was in the “right line of work.”

One of the special needs children, being picked up by her mom, after a day in the new special needs program at Emanuel House. The child’s day normally would have been confined essentially to her home with little interaction and stimulation. And as I watched her walk down the street, hand in hand with her mom, talking no doubt about all that she had learned and experienced during his first school experience, as a father my heart melted.  I stopped to let the image sear into my memory as they walked down the street out of view, and I was thankful to all that contributed towards the launch of the ministry, as I firmly believe the program reflects the heart of God: caring for those that by business or the world’s standards might never be able to “fully reciprocate” or “meaningfully contribute to society.”   This is the heart of James 1:27 – Care for the most needy (widows, orphans, physically and mentally disabled, and the destitute) demonstrates true Christian sacrificial love and moves the heart of God.

If you look closely at the picture there are so many elements:

• The enthusiastic student
• The grateful parent
• The caring Emanuel House staff
• The student’s new friend saying goodbye

Investment God’s way often confounds many but honors our maker.

“Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.”
– James 1:27 – The Message

“One’s relationship to God shows up in his attitude toward the needy.”
– John F. Walvoord

I count amongst my many blessings from the Lord the ability to spend extended time overseas in the presence of those with an impassioned heart for “the least of these.” (Matthew 25:40)  These faithful servants exemplify Christ, both in character and priorities, and as such are simultaneously encouraging and challenging on a personal level.

While reading through John Ryle’s Holiness, the section below brought to mind the many faithful, overseas servants and friends “no longer living for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Cor. 5:15)

 “A holy man will follow after a spirit of benevolence and mercy toward others. He will not stand all the day idle. He will not be content with doing no harm – he will try to do good.  He will strive to be useful in his day and generation, and to lessen the spiritual wants and misery around him, as far as he can. Such was Dorcas, ‘full of good works and almsdeeds, which she did’ – not merely purposed and talked about, but did. Such a one was Paul: ‘I will very gladly spend and be spent for you,’ he says, ‘thought the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved.’ (Acts 9:36; 2 Cor. 12:15)”

 And yet, we need not be an overseas missionary to seize the opportunity, as Christ followers, to daily:

• “follow after a spirit of benevolence and mercy towards others”
• “strive to be useful in our days and generation”
• “lessen the spiritual wants and misery around us, as far as we can”
• “not merely purpose and talk about, but do”
• “to gladly spend and be spent for others”

 

 

Last week, as I served alongside the marvelous group of ministry leaders from Washington D.C. pictured above, I was reminded of the Scottish preacher Robert Murray M’Cheyne, who was only 29 years of age when he died in 1843. His ministry lasted a mere six years, and yet because he possessed so deep a love for the Lord and for people the day of his funeral is described in this manner:

“Business was almost totally suspended throughout the bounds of his hometown, and, hours before the time appointed for the funeral arrived, crowds began to appear from far and near, anxious to pay their last respects to the one whom living they had esteemed so highly. Long before the hour arrived, the whole line of road intervening between the dwelling-house and the churchyard was crowded with men, women, and children, principally of the working classes. Every window overlooking the procession, and the church itself, were likewise densely filled with females, almost all attired in deep mourning, and the very walls and housetops were surmounted with anxious onlookers. Altogether, not fewer than six or seven thousand people must have assembled.”

 What caused M’Cheyne to leave such an indelible impression in such a relatively short period of time? We find the answer in a journal entry, in which he wrote,

“Live so as to be missed when dead.”

Psalm 90:12 reads,

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Our parents teach us to count from the earliest age. We count everything – blocks, fingers and toes, eventually moving on to sports stats, finances…etc. However, the Lord has to be the teacher when it comes to “numbering our days” – realizing we will not live forever. Ecclesiastes 3:11 states that “[The Lord] has planted eternity in the human heart.”

Pastor John Piper has wisely said,

“There is scarcely any thought that will purge our priorities of vain and worldly perceptions like the thought of our imminent death. O how cleansing it is to ponder the kind of life we would like to look back on when we come to die. There is great wisdom in such meditation. Therefore, think often of your dying.”

 This concept of daily “pondering the kind of life we would like to look back on when we come to die” is one Robert Murray M’Cheyne clearly grasped, and we would be wise to embrace as well. For we have “only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last” so….“Live so as to be missed.”

 

 

This past week, as Andy and I met with a corporation in Santo Domingo interested in partnering with Empowering Action, we explained that our motivation as an individuals and an organization is found in the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:15,

“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

 In short, the sacrifice and sufferings of Christ’s life, must determine the pattern and priorities of His follower’s lives.  The conversation was all the more meaningful and relevant having occurred during Holy Week leading to the celebration of Easter, for it is at Easter that we called to a “right apprehension of the vicarious sufferings of Christ.”

In the 19^th century Pastor J.C. Ryle captured how Christians are the beneficiaries of Christ’s suffering.

 “Was he flogged? It was done so that “by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). Was he condemned, though innocent? It was done so that we might be acquitted, though guilty. Did he wear a crown of thorns? It was done so that we might wear the crown of glory. Was he stripped of his clothes? It was done so that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness. Was he mocked and reviled? It was done so that we might be honored and blessed. Was he reckoned a criminal, and counted among those who had done wrong? It was done so that we might be reckoned innocent, and declared free from all sin. Was he declared unable to save himself? It was so that we might be able to save others to the uttermost. Did he die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful death? It was done so that we might live forevermore, and be exalted to the highest glory.  Let us ponder these things well: they are worth remembering. The very key to peace is a right apprehension of the vicarious sufferings of Christ.”

Over the years I’ve been privileged to hear missionaries recount various interesting anecdotes and facts, but one, in particular, has remained over time in the forefront of my mind, because of the powerful principle it represents in how God often prepares us for maximum effectiveness for His service.

Years ago I was struck by the fact that brand new missionary aircraft are stripped of any non-essential material, to reduce the overall weight, in order that the plane might fly faster, farther and carry more needed supplies. It’s a powerful image to envision a direct from the manufacturer aircraft having seat cushions, headliners, dash boards…anything non-essential torn from its hinges and discarded. And yet I believe that often God must remove the “excess payload” in our lives, “stripping off every weight that slows us down” (Hebrews 12:1) in order that we might soar faster, farther and offer more in His name and for His glory.

However, admittedly this can be a painfully lonely, unsettling, and humbling process, as we are stripped of our:

• Normal routines
• Closest relationships
• Familiar surroundings
• And cherished identity

in preparation for a new God-ordained destination in our lives.

Pastor Charles Swindoll recounts such an instance in his own life in the book “A Life Well Lived,”

July 1, 1994 began a period that I can best describe as a long, cold winter – a stark lonely season during which I found myself without all the things that gave me comfort, purpose, meaning and identify. It helped a little that I had entered this season willingly. It was a necessary transition from a very successful, almost twenty-three years in Fullerton, California, to an uncertain future in Dallas, Texas. I never doubted that I was where the Lord would have me and I knew it would be difficult, but I never imagined just how much it would challenge my character and stretch my faith. I felt more than lonely. I felt alone.

I was living in a small apartment over a friend’s garage while pouring myself into my new duties as president of Dallas Theological Seminary, the institution that had launched me into ministry thirty-one years earlier. The world of academic theology, while strange to me, was stimulating. Those with whom I worked could not have been more gracious or kind…but nothing was familiar. It would be another two years before we could move the headquarters of Insight for Living from California to Texas, so my wife Cynthia had to divide her time between Anaheim and Dallas. That left me with a lot of solitude, something I typically enjoy. But this was far more than I had anticipated or wanted. I was separated from all my children and grandchildren for the first time since they were born. The deep friendships I had cultivated for twenty-three years were fifteen hundred miles away. The home we had lived in and enjoyed belonged to someone else, and the ministry that had given me such joy and fulfillment was now only a memory. Moreover, I was a shepherd without sheep. That loss kept me on my face before God.”

Like Pastor Swindoll, the Apostle Paul also allowed discomfort to draw himself to God,

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” (2 Cor. 12:7-9)

Where did Paul go? He didn’t go to Timothy, Titus or some other friend. He didn’t look to an earthly formula, man-made therapy or technique to find the path to comfort. No, he went to the Lord. That was and is the right response, and itself the rationale for God stripping away the excess in our lives: that we would find our sufficiency in Him alone. Is this stripping away a humbling process? Without a doubt. However, God must have humble servants. As Charles Spurgeon once said, “You have two choices. You can either be humble or humbled.”

The Israelites were a forgetful people, often failing to remember God’s provision and intervention on their behalf. The book of Judges contains just one example of their falling to recall God’s involvement, love, care and pursuit of them?

“And the people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side.” (Judges 8:34)

As a result, God commanded the Israelites to erect Stones of Remembrance throughout the land, to trigger memories of God’s involvement in saving the nation that He loved so much.

Last Monday, as a result of God’s provision through McLean Bible Church’s New Years Aid event, Emanuel House was able to add 25 new students to its pre-school program. After visiting the students in their class, meeting the new teacher and watching Mirqueya greet each student’s parents at pickup, we “built our own Stones of Remembrance,” gathering the staff, and stopping to remember God’s provision and intervention over the years, to enable the Emanuel House ministry to have grown to 135 children daily, in a building that Mirqueya and her team could not have envisioned in their wildest dreams.

As we move forward, we echo the thoughts of Joshua that “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord” in light of His most gracious provision, but instead “we will serve the Lord, for He is our God!”

“Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’” (Joshua 24:16-18)

As I was driving home one recent morning from the airport, after being stranded in Detroit overnight on my way back from a meeting in Buffalo (neither, take note, are coveted winter destinations), I ran across a powerful message from Dr. Tony Evans entitled “The Concept of the Calling.”  The message was both relevant to me as an individual and our team as an organization, in “serving God’s purpose in our time” in the same way the Bible describes David,

“For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.” (Acts 13:36)

Dr. Evans wisely reminds us that we MUST have a calling greater than ourselves, which maximizes the Lord’s glory and expands His Kingdom, both of which I believe are at the heart of this new endeavor: Empowering Action.

Pastor John Piper states regarding this passage,

“The people whom God raises up from generation to generation are meant mainly to serve the purpose of God in their generation…It may be our prayer—that the ripple effect of our lives will go on for Christ’s sake after we are dead. But God’s will for us is that the burden of our ministry be on this generation. ‘David served the purpose of God in his own generation.’ His ministry goes on through psalms and through his seed. But they are the providential ripples of a life given to the purpose of God for his generation.”

And so in light of inspiration from King David, Dr. Evans, Pastor Piper and the faithful servants we have the privilege to work alongside in the Dominican Republic, our prayer, as individuals and an organization, is:

• “to serve the purpose of God in this generation”
• “a ripple effect of our lives that will go on for Christ’s sake after we are dead.”

When McLean Bible Church met Mirqueya Guzman, neither party could have foreseen where the relationship would lead.  However, four years later, with a brand new building, a ministry to over 110 students, and tremendous spiritual impact in Quisqueya, God has certainly been good!!

In December, Empowering Action was approached by a donor who had visited Emanuel House with the goal of providing the students and staff at Emanuel House with a party for 3 Kings Day, the Latin-American equivalent of Christmas.

Through this generous donation, a party was held on January 6, 2013 to the surprise of the Emanuel House students!

In true Emanuel House-fashion Mirqueya balanced instant gratification with lasting need with:

• Each boy receiving a large toy car and each girl receiving a large doll
• Every student receiving a brand new pair of black school shoes
• Every student receiving a brand new school uniform (button-up shirt, and blouse or pants)
• Every student receiving two brand new Emanuel House uniforms (a long-time dream of Mirqueya, which has finally been realized!)
•  All students enjoying a generous helping of cake and soda as a treat!

Those who have visited the former Emanuel House site, a cramped, two-room apartment where 55 students sat on the floor to learn, can appreciate just how far the Lord has brought Mirqueya and her precious children. This ministry emphasizes so greatly the spiritual, educational, and physical development of the children. To be able to take a small break from the work, and bless the children with such a memorable party was a special gift from the Lord.

This week, as I took an early morning run I found myself reflecting on what makes Christmas such a special time for me personally. As I ran through a neighborhood filled with Christmas decorations, visiting relatives, and fellow runners brimming with holiday spirit, the word that came to mind was “idyllic,” because in so many ways Christmas can be a perfect occasion:

• Surrounded by the company of loving friends and family,
• Christ momentarily taking center stage, even in our increasingly secular society,
• A temporary diversion from the pressures and problems of life.

In truth, Christmas is in many ways a small glimpse of heaven, as in heaven:

• We will forever be in the company of our heavenly father and heavenly family.
  • “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
  • “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’” (Revelation 21:3)

• The Lord will eternally be the focal point
  • “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne,and to the Lamb.’” (Revelations 7:9-10)

• We will forevermore be free from pain and suffering.
  • “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

Mid run, however, I was awakened to the reality of our current state, as an ambulance sped past me, reminding me of the imperfect, fallen world in which we live today, a world desperately in need of the gospel, and believers committed to “no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

As 2013 begins, Empowering Action is committed to find and assist global, Gospel-centered ministries led by Christian brothers and sisters, working to eliminate the pain and suffering of poverty. Join us in this effort by supporting this cause.

On my return this week from a brief missions trip to the Dominican Republic, I was struck, as I went through U.S. Customs, by the need to indicate whether the purpose of my trip was, in fact, business related. Truthfully, the trip felt more like a family vacation, as a result of the wonderful people who accompanied me, including Joanna Elam, a nurse from Reston Hospital, picture above with Charina, a lovely girl suffering from Down Syndrome, raised for years in horrific conditions including backyard isolation and treatment as an animal, but now in the loving care of Pasitos de Jesus, an orphanage for girls.

In fact, when we look at God’s Word I believe it is clear that the trip was in fact business related, more specifically an “Investment Outing.”  Matthew 6:20 calls us to “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”  So, as the team provided medical care, spiritual encouragement and “cared for the least of these,” they were in fact making an eternal investment. An investment, unlike earthly investments, that can never decrease in value.

The great missionary C.T. Studd said it well when he wrote*,

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

So, as we approach a season increasingly associated with Expenditure, ensure you take time for Investment, as you give of your time and treasure to Christ-centered service organizations, remembering “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

*Full Text of Quote can be read here.