Serving in a poor and developing nation has its ups and downs. Daily you see those in hardship and you just long to help them and provide for their needs. It can be heartbreaking seeing a beggar or a child playing in the dirt barely dressed and having to walk on by. You want to help, but what is the best way to serve and be a blessing without creating further problems?
It reminded me of a song by Jon Foreman, Instead of a Show, which is inspired by the verses from Amos 5:21-24. We can get so caught up in doing what is “right” that we forget our real calling – “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) This results in us having a heart for what Jesus had a heart for, the sick, the poor and the needy.
The other day I started reading a really interesting and challenging book about helping the world’s poor and needy. It is called When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor... and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. Inside its covers it challenges thought provoking questions a put to the reader, things that make you just stop and think about your actions and the effects they can have on others. Stories are shared about peoples attempts to be “a help” but rather their aid has created bigger problems.
Within the first chapter my thoughts have been challenged. The question “Why did Jesus come to the Earth?” is often answered with the blanket statement “To die on the cross and save us from our sins”. However if we look more closely at Jesus’ teachings and what he said he came to do we can see that it goes much deeper than this. We need not look further than Luke 4:17:21…
“17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus was sent not only to die for our sins but also to put right everything that sin has ruined. This is the ongoing work of spreading the good news. It is not just a message, it is action, actions that meet the real needs of the individual, empowering them with a better life now and the life to come.
Without realising it some of our actions, our ways of helping and the methods we use can bring negative implications along with the positive that we try to achieve. Westernisim has leaked into the nation of Cambodia as many have come to assist this needy nation. This has brought about materialism and greed (just to name two) into this culture as they are introduced to cars, i-phones, computers and other amazing gadgets that were created to make our lives better. These things in themselves are not bad but when the a person who now owns a better moto and can not feed his own family or goes further into debt the helpfulness fades away.
My impact here can have both a positive and negative effect. I need to start seeing things from a more whole view Godly perspective rather than creating bandaid solutions. This could include things like better understanding the culture so that my teaching is cultural relevant rather than western relevant, thinking about an action before doing it and empowering local Cambodians around me. Helping involves listening, really understanding the need and working together to find a solution. We shouldn't come to help from a higher angle but rather be willing to be humbled in our service within the community.
I am not a know-it-all expert, far from it, I am contently having to learn new ways of helping and it is going to be a life long experience. However I highly recommend looking up this book. If I can be this challenged by only reading one chapter I think it’s a quality read.
