The Testament
Recently I re-read the book “The Testament” by John Gresham. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it’s a story about a rich man who commits suicide after writing a simple will leaving everything he owns to an illegitimate daughter who no one knows who is or where she lives. It’s an interesting tale and an interesting look at how folks view money and wealth and earthly power as the various other children the man had sired vie for a piece of the eleven billion dollar estate. It turns out that the missing daughter has become a missionary to a tiny tribe in South America and lives a life almost completely severed from the modern chaos that our world has become.
Now, I won’t go and spoil the plot for you any further, you’ll need to read the book if you want to know how it turns out. But I wanted to address the idea of an eleven billion dollar bequest to a mission agency. This is a “dream come true” for many and I’m sure that most folks can imagine “all the good” they could do with “limitless funds”.
For me, however, the issue is – what is mission work about any way? Is it really possible to do that much more REAL christian work with money than what can be done while depending on the Lord and His people to provide? What is christian mission work about any way?
For me, the issue of missions is of vital importance. I was raised in a mission home and grew up to dedicate my life to mission work. It has been a privilege and a learning experience to observe various approaches to mission work from a variety of people from diverse backgrounds and denominational affiliations. But one thing that has stuck in my head is the difference in results between those who “throw money” at problems and those who seek the Lord’s guidance and allow Him to work through them according to the gifts He has given them.
Rarely does a “money missionary” produce more than a group of parasites who depend on the “God of the North” (from a South American perspective) rather than raising their eyes to He Who gave His very life for them and Who provides according to the riches of His mercy for His children’s needs. Tremendous battles are often waged over mission resources and lands and vehicles and tools and other material items while souls go to hell because they’ve never seen the Gospel lived.
The most effective way I’ve seen to change lives is to live the Gospel message in one’s daily life. When we walk with the Lord, seeking first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, then He will provide for what we need. And as we live out our lives in the presence of those He brings into our lives, we show them that they too can have victory over sin and that they too can learn to walk with God in His paths – and that they don’t have to have a boat load of money to do so.
When we first moved to Brazil following our marriage, we lived on $75 a month. We were able to hold to this budget for some time with the Lord’s help. It wasn’t easy, but He provided. Even now we have the lowest budget of the missionaries from our movement who are working in this nation – and yet the Lord has blessed our ministry and has allowed us the blessing of seeing lives turned from sin to righteousness and to see families restored. There have been setbacks and problems – but none which more money would solve.
Is it wrong to have abundant monetary resources? I don’t believe so (contrary to what some detractors may think) but rarely will abundant monetary resources provide real solutions to life’s real problems. When it comes to poverty we have seen that the root of the problem is in the mindset. Two people with identical backgrounds will have opposite results in their lives – due to the approach and the mindset they have when facing life’s trials. One will sink into poverty and the other will receive abundant blessings of an earthly riches character – due to the difference in the way they approach problems.
The greatest tool in overcoming poverty is education. By teaching folks to think and reason and make intelligent choices we can help them avoid the poverty trap. This is not an easy task – nor is it one that can be helped by merely forking money at it. To teach someone to think is a lifelong process – and one must struggle against the fallacious thought patterns that have too often dominated the person’s life.
In Romans the Apostle wrote “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” – this is an admonition that should be taken to heart in many parts of our lives. The obvious first understanding comes from a spiritual perspective. God wants us to renew our way of thinking in a spiritual sense so that we can withstand the attacks of our spiritual enemy. But renewing our way of thinking will effect a change in our way of living in all areas.
Yes, it’s kind of fun to daydream about what one would do with a huge inheritance. But the real question is – what are we doing with what we already have? The Lord said “He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.” Are we faithful with what we already have?
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