Rich or Poor?

One day a father took his rich family and his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night on the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“Very good, Dad!”

“Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked.

“Yeah!”

“And what did you learn?”

The son answered, “I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden; they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard; they have a whole horizon.”

When the little boy was finished, his father was speechless. His son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are!”

Rich or poor? How rich are we in life according to this boy’s standards? How poor are we? Money wasn’t important to him; it was the beauty and vastness of nature that drew him, the beauty that God put on earth for us to enjoy and praise Him for. How often do we focus on money instead of family, friends, or a relationship with God? When do we find ourselves focusing more on earthly things than heavenly things, when we’re stressed, discouraged, lonely, worried? In Luke 18:18-25, Jesus talks to a rich ruler, who wants to know how to gain eternal life. After telling Jesus that he has kept all the commandments since he was a child, Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give to the poor, and then he will have treasures in heaven. The man walks away sad, discouraged. I have a feeling that this is how the father would have felt if he actually understood what his son was telling him, that worldly treasures do not matter. How do we store up treasures in heaven? According to this, we need to sell everything and give to the poor. Perhaps it is more than selling all your possessions and giving to the poor. Perhaps it is more about where your focus is. Matthew 6:19-22 talks about treasure in heaven as well. Verse 22 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Since we cannot focus on both God and money (Matthew 6:24), we should stop trying to look toward money for treasures and start looking to God to provide for our needs. If we seek after God, (Matthew 6:33), He will provide. Isaiah 6:33 says, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”Are you focusing on money, your job, or are you fearing the Lord and gaining treasure? I know I need to focus more on God and less on how I will provide for my future; how about you?

On to the Dells, the staff are officially gone. We still have team leaders and have to abide by the same rules, but we have more time to small group activities or ourselves and more time to hang out with international students, which is what we did last night. A bunch of us taught some students from Turkey how to play ultimate Frisbee. They loved learning and playing. A baseball game was going on in the field beside us, so we got to watch some of that as well and explained the rules to several of them, so they could understand it better.

My time here is coming to a close; we only have two weeks left. Please keep praying for us and our interactions with the international students, employers, and fellow coworkers. Our Bible study this summer was Colossians. We still have a couple left in it, but this week we are in Colossians 4. As I started preparing for it, the two verses that we are supposed to memorize with it, caught my attention. Verses 2-4 say, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” I realized that this is really what should be prayed over this program, that a door would be opened for us, that people would be eager to listen to the message of the gospel, and that we would proclaim it clearly, so they can understand.