LUKE 18

There are people who have money and people who are rich. (Coco Chanel)

I never came from a family with a lot of money, but without a doubt, my life is and has always been rich up to now. My mother came from the countryside to try for a better life in the capital. I was born in my mother’s small town about 300 km from Salvador, the capital of my state, called Mundo Novo, which translates into New World. I remember when my father had a good job and we lived a good life, that is until my parents got divorced. And like all divorces, it came with instability and doubts about the future. 

The memory of this time of suffering is still impressed in my mind. My siblings and I lived with my mother. I have pictures in my mind of times when we had no electricity at home and my mom would bring back snacks from her job so we could have something to eat at home. I know that there are people who live in worst conditions than what my family lived at that time…… But what made a difference in my life was getting to know Jesus Christ and His word. 

Today I am a married man and my wife and I have a daughter and a son, we are a missionary family and live out of the country. The story of financial trouble came to us now as well. It is something that can always happen for various reasons. But the Bible teaches us how we should behave when it comes to money: don’t love it for it is the root of all evil in life. (1 Timothy 6:10) 

Finances is something that we all have to deal with in a daily basis. rather it be in the mission field or out of the mission field. As missionaries, we are to receive a wage and the cost of living in England is very high for a Brazilian family here in England. I am working as a missionary for about 10 years now, and I have seen friends and colleagues leave the mission field because of financial reasons.  For not having the financial support needed to live out his/her vocation in the mission field. I believe that all of us have a vocation to fulfil within the Kingdom of God. Our is mobilization and training and we live them out full-time. We need pastors who are called to care for our communities (luke 15), we need judges who are called to legislate the truth over people, without favouritism but always judging in truth. (1Kings3:28) , we need teacher who are called to educate the future generations. In short, we need Christians who are called to expand the Kingdom of God here on earth. 

Every Christian is called. Called to love (john 3:16). To love what? you might ask. (Mathew 22:39). We need to understand 2 Chronicles 7:14, when God asks us to live life by loving and through love, he would heal us. First, we need to love God with all our heart, understanding and soul. That means with all that we have (Mathew 22:37). For us (missionaries) we need a partnership with Christians who are called to love through prayer and intercession, and who love by contributing financially on a monthly basis towards the maintenance of those in the mission filed. 

 1 Context: a rich young man who asks Jesus about getting eternal life (Mathew 19:16)
 2 Context: The rich throw their offering into the ark and then a widow. (Luke 21:3) 

 My personal application of this is that I can choose between the lifestyle of these two people.

And once I choose it doesn’t meant that I will have to remember again or that I won’t go through the same situation again. That is why I always have to be meditating in God’s word, to nurture my humanity in Christ’s love. Creating a relationship with the creator, and with the Word that speaks hope into my life. 

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18)