RIVER OF GRACE
One of the things I love about missions is the line of undeserved receiving of which we are a part. It’s easy for us to see that all we have in Madagascar is due to the generosity of our supporters. Obviously, we couldn’t be living here if people didn’t financially support this ministry.
Because we are here in Madagascar we are enabled to give generously of the finances we’ve been given to our staff. It’s quite awe-full, in my experience, to be able to give my workers not only a good salary for the work they do (something they earn), but also to sow into their lives, and the lives of their children, things that money can buy: the opportunity to go to school, the supplies necessary for them to study, and good health care.
The women who work in my home benefit from the generosity of those who give towards our ministry with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). It is a humbling experience to hear these women observe that God has blessed us so that we can bless them. I also can see that God has blessed people in Canada so that they can bless us, so that we can bless these Malagasy who work in our home, so they can in turn bless others.
To my eyes, it seems as though a stream of water pours out from heaven and it blesses a company on earth, a farm, a society as a whole. Those beneficiaries have the opportunity to let this grace, given by God, run through their fingers while they drink of it themselves. That water flows through their hands into the next line of beneficiaries—us—sent to live and work in a country not our own. With these resources I can bless my workers with a good salary and sow into our local church who in turn sows into the poor who come to her for help.
That money that’s been filtered by your employer to you, used and passed on by you to us, used and passed on by us to our workers, used and passed on by them to the next beneficiaries—this is glorious in my eyes. Being a part of undeserved generosity, of Christians living in obedience to the command to be generous, being obedient to it ourselves, watching those who receive it be generous—it is amazing; it shows me in a practical way how a gift given by the Father of Lights (James 1:17) to one person can bless hundreds if it’s allowed to flow through their fingers and onward.
I am blessed to bless (Gen. 12:1-3). I see that everything I am given, even as legitimate salary earned in the line of work, ultimately comes from the One who owns everything (Deut. 8:17-18). It is not work that provides, but God.
As I receive from those ahead of me in this river of grace, I must let it flow through my fingers and allow it to pass on to bless others.
