GIVING WITH A MIND FOR GOD'S MISSION

The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Giving with a Mind for God’s Mission

Hudson Taylor was a well-known missionary to China. While preparing for overseas mission work as a medical student in London, he came upon a poor family. The man asked him to pray for his family. The family was living under the stairs. His wife was so sick she could not even sit-up. The oldest was holding a newborn baby who was very weak from lack of nutrition. The rest of the 5 children were all skin and bones from lack of food. Hudson prayed for them but felt the need to help them physically, but all he had was the money for his rent, which was due the next day. He did not even have money for his own food. Hudson gave it all to the man. Hudson went home thinking what a foolish thing he had done. If he could not pay the rent, he too would be homeless. He prayed about it and prepared himself to appeal to the landlord for an extension. The next day, late in the morning he heard the landlord coming up the stairs. Hudson prepared himself for confrontation. The landlord knocked on his door and he opened it.  The landlord handed him a letter and said, "your rent is due today" and left to do other things. Hudson had no opportunity to appeal for an extension. He opened the letter to read it still with an empty stomach. Inside the letter said, "We hope this will be of use to you." Inside was enough money for his rent and food.

You see, Hudson Taylor had a missionary heart. Long before he began his decades of service in China, he was sensitive to the needs of others around him. He learned through his experience with this poor family that God will always provide for the generous, mission minded follower of Christ.

I shared this beautiful story last Sunday in my devotional for Sunday Night Alive. The past three weeks we have been traveling through a series of messages on our Stewardship toward God in a 40 Day Journey Toward a More Generous Life.

I hope that we can learn of how God’s generosity toward us is vastly more extravagant that our own could ever be. He has always provided for those who trust him through their own generosity.

This Sunday we will look at Part 4 of our sermon series with a message titled; Generous Giving Allows You to Fight the Dragon of Materialism based on Luke 12:15-21; 1Timothy 6:6-10; Haggai 1. I hope you have been praying and contemplating our special Try The Tithe Sunday coming up on March 8. God always takes care of his most generous people.

Seeking a more generous life,
Jon