“Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.” 3 John 5-8
Some of us were taught to tithe ten percent of our income to our home congregation and after that it was prudent to put another ten percent into savings and the remaining eighty percent was ours to make ends meet. There was a time in my life when I challenged my creator and tithed another five percent on missions, and there are several that are blessed with my excess. God wants us to use some money to take the Good News around the world. Now whether or not you understand this but we invest in eternal harvesting every time we use money to bring others to Jesus.
When you save to go on a mission trip, that’s an investment in God’s eternal harvest. When you help others go on a mission trip, that’s an investment in God’s eternal harvest, too. This also includes using your money to encourage your friends to trust in Jesus. The largest portion of my tithe goes to TrinityHOPE and provides food for Haitian school children. Imagine when you die and get to heaven, you will encounter friends who say, “Thank you for investing in me. You helped me get to Heaven and while I’m wasn’t your friend where I lived; I’m your friend here, for eternity. I’m in heaven because you cared enough. You bought me a meal. You gave me a book that pointed me to Jesus.” And, the blessing doesn’t stop with those little Haitian missionaries as they take the Good News back home and in their neighborhoods. Others will say, “You spent your money to help spread the Good News to my village, even though you’d never seen us before. Because you gave, I became a follower of Christ. I’m in heaven because of your gifts.” Helping others find Jesus is the highest use of your money. How will you invest in God’s eternal harvest? Will you go on a mission trip or provide funds so someone else can go on a mission trip or will you feed kids attending Christian schools in Haiti?
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay