Please Ponder and Consider:

The Shoeshine Boy

A young shoeshine boy in South India became a Christian through the faithful witness of some local Christians in his village. As he went about his work he would sing a little chorus…Seek ye first the kingdom of God …and all these things will be added unto you.

His friends in the village, quite unhappy at him for turning his back from following the faith of the fathers, once asked him what “all these things” were that would be given to him. The young boy, being a new believer, was stumped. He did not quite know the meaning of the chorus. But he was determined to find out, so he could give the answer his friends. The following Sunday at church, he asked his Sunday school teacher what “all these things” in the chorus meant. Putting an arm around him, the teacher explained that they meant food, clothes, shelter, and other necessities of life.

As soon as Sunday School ended, the boy ran to his friends, who were playing cricket at the playground. He told them excitedly what the chorus meant. They completely ignored him, continuing their game without lending him a listening ear. Weeks passed. The shoeshine boy, who was an orphan, was still going hungry for days at a stretch. He was still homeless. He still slept under the stars. His only shirt was no better than rags.

“Where are these things that will be added unto you?” his friends scoffed at him when they heard him singing the same chorus again while yet still in his unchanged pitiful condition. Gently, but sorrowfully, he replied: “ My Father in heaven has already given these things to my other brothers and sisters—they just haven’t shared any with me yet.”

 I was moved to tears when I first read this true story.

My beloved friends, do not the scriptures exhort us: “T herefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (Jas. 4:17)? It is our good Father in heaven who gives you wealth so that you can help the “poor” with their basic necessities and assist servants in the furtherance of the gospel. The economies of the world are going to collapse. The antichrist is coming soon to control the entire economy of this world. What good is your wealth if you store them in the banks and in stocks and bonds? Will you consider laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matt.6:19-21)?

When you give generously to Jesus Ministries you not only partner with us in this end-time prophetic ministry, you are also giving to the poor. We give a tenth—the tithe of all your tithes—to feed and clothe lepers, help orphans pay their school fees, provide widows with support, assist the fatherless with marriage expenses, bless other needy ministries, and mend and rebuild broken lives like those tragic victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD,
And He will pay back what he has given (Prov. 19:17)

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