Someone recently asked me: "How long will I/we (MAF) do what we do...?"
When I look at the famine disaster in East Africa and the apparent chaos in many other parts of the world, it almost seems hopeless, but as a Christian I don't believe that a situation can ever be completely without hope. Then again, can I truly say that I have every experienced something even close?
If our hope was based only on the here and now, I think this is as close to hopelessness as you get. Even in this the reporter mentions that the people look relieved "that finally they have reached somewhere, finally they have hope." Then imagine how hopeless it must be where they came from...
Often the problems are so many and seem so big, that we feel what we can do won't make 'n real difference. However, I believe that all God asks is that we do what we can, when we can, He will do the rest. John Wesley said it well: "Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can."
Paul said to the Romans: "Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us." We have a blessed assurance of a future destiny based on God's love, revealed by the Holy Spirit and demonstrated by Jesus Christ!
We can only bring temporary physical hope to people, but we have a message of God's love that brings eternal hope and we have a mandate to take it to the ends of the earth.
So, to answer the question: We will do all the good we can... as long as we ever can until our eternal hope in Jesus Christ is fulfilled. And with your partnership we can do the best we can.
When I look at the famine disaster in East Africa and the apparent chaos in many other parts of the world, it almost seems hopeless, but as a Christian I don't believe that a situation can ever be completely without hope. Then again, can I truly say that I have every experienced something even close?
If our hope was based only on the here and now, I think this is as close to hopelessness as you get. Even in this the reporter mentions that the people look relieved "that finally they have reached somewhere, finally they have hope." Then imagine how hopeless it must be where they came from...
Often the problems are so many and seem so big, that we feel what we can do won't make 'n real difference. However, I believe that all God asks is that we do what we can, when we can, He will do the rest. John Wesley said it well: "Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can."
Paul said to the Romans: "Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us." We have a blessed assurance of a future destiny based on God's love, revealed by the Holy Spirit and demonstrated by Jesus Christ!
We can only bring temporary physical hope to people, but we have a message of God's love that brings eternal hope and we have a mandate to take it to the ends of the earth.
