God's Treasures

Guest Blogger:  Mason Beebe, Age 16 yrs. 

 Being a missionary is hard. It does have many joyful moments and God shows himself to us in mighty ways, but that doesn’t always make it easy. The joyful moments and God sightings give us perseverance and faith that we are where God wants us, which is all we need to endure the trials.

     

     But shouldn’t all Christians be missionaries? Shouldn’t we all experience these trials? If you have truly put your faith in God and do what He asks you to do then God has placed you in a strategic spot for the furtherance of His kingdom. But why do some people have to go serve the poor? Why do some believers have to sacrifice worldly possessions and desires to please God? Is going to church, reading the Bible, and praying not enough?

     

     God has recently been convicting me of the condition of my heart. What God calls us to do is useless if our hearts are not in the right place. If I play with orphans and bring smiles to their faces but do not truly love them in my heart, my endeavors are worthless. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

     

     For the past ten days I have been in an orphanage in Bolgatanga, which is in the very northern part of Ghana. Basically the entire country is between where I am and where my family is. The first week or so of being here was extremely hard. I was homesick. I was not able to love the children really at all because I was wanting so badly to be with my family. While I would not have chosen to go through this, God used this time of hardship to grow and teach me so much.

     

     When I traveled up here with Daddy Paul and another volunteer, we brought with us a young boy. His mother had not been caring for him the way she should have been and so he was brought to Bolgatanga. The reason he could not stay in an orphanage in Accra, where his mother was, is because if something happened in the home that he did not like, discipline for example, he could have run away from the home and gone back to his mother. As I was struggling through being homesick, I looked at this little boy. I was going back to my family in a matter of weeks. This boy was here to stay. For all he knows he may never see his mother again. God put me through the hardships I experienced so that I could better understand the orphan's longing.

     

     Have you ever considered the fact that God sees the poor the same as he sees us, the wealthy. He can use the poor in the same ways He can use the wealthy. More than that, He treasures all of us. The poor are God’s treasure. He made them when they were still in the womb and He loves them. Material wealth does not matter at all to God. The less privileged are just as much God’s children, tools, and treasures as anyone else. If we are true followers of God, and if God treasures the poor, shouldn’t we do the same?

     

     This realization helped me so much in the way I love the kids here in Bolgatanga. I am not here because it is my “Christian duty” but because each one of these children is made in the image of God and He loves them so very much. God is using my arms to wrap them up in a hug, my lips to tell them He loves them, and my presence to let them know that they are not forgotten.

     

     The first week here was easily the hardest week of my life. But God showed Himself to me in so many ways and taught me so many things, that I knew I was in the right place. I am now seeing the fruit of my endurance. I am so glad to be surrounded by God’s treasured creations.

     

     So what are you going to do about this? As Christians we are all called to help the poor. So you can start by aiding the less privileged that God has placed around you. Secondly, make sure your heart is in the right place. Always remember that every single person on this earth, no matter what they have done or failed to do, and no matter their beliefs or their possessions, is just as much God’s creation as you are. Truly love them in your heart, as a treasure of the everlasting King.

The Lord says to a king, 'Worthless one,'

and to nobles, 'Wicked man.’

He shows no partiality to princes,

nor regards the rich more than the poor,

for they are all the work of his hands.

Job 34:18-19