Wasted?

In serving the poor a thought can come - “The need is so great, it seems like we’re trying to empty the ocean with a bucket.” Knowing the best efforts will likely never solve the health problem in Guatemala - this does beg the question - “So, what’s the point?” Two answers.

First is the eternal value of one person to God. Forget the numbers. What is the worth of one person? You may have heard the story of a boy finding thousands of starfish washed onto the beach & he begins throwing them back into the ocean - one-by-one. A man walks by & points out that his effort is useless - there are just too many. The boy picks up one, chucks it into the water, & says, “Well, it mattered to that one!”

The second answer Jesus addressed in Mark 14:3-9 when the disciples scolded the woman for wasting a vial of costly perfume she poured on His head. Watchman Nee, in The Normal Christian Life, shares a beautiful perspective.....

“Have we recognized working for the poor, for souls - all valuable - are as nothing compared with work done to the Lord? I do not mean expenditure of effort, but a life laid at His feet. Something has been broken in that life - what you are, not of what you do - that in others, you impart the sense of God. People will scent Christ in you - that here is one who has gone with the Lord, has not moved independently, & has subjected everything to Him. God does not set us here first to preach or work, but to create in others a hunger for Himself. That prepares soil for preaching. We cannot compel people to be hungry - it can be created only by those who carry these impressions of God. This turns upon the work of the Cross in us which releases that fragrance of Christ - & produces in others an awareness of a need to know the Lord. This is the heart of everything - to be wasted for the Lord. When we make this our supreme aim, the gospel will have achieved its end.”

This has been the heart of Vine for 14 years - asking the Lord that the people we serve would not some much see the “stuff” as they would see Jesus - & be drawn to Him.