The Source

 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

I recently came across an account of a young man from Haiti who was brought to America for a visit. He was to spend several months here, but after 6 weeks, told those who had brought him, "I love your country, and have been amazed at all that you have here. I've never seen such abundance, or enjoyed such comforts. However, I feel I must return to my country, because I feel I'm losing my sense of dependency upon my God." Can we even begin to dwell upon not only what the young man said, but upon the warning, intended or not, for we who are the western church.

Haiti is a country mired in poverty. We cannot even begin to understand the extent of it. Those who are His there are living in the midst of that same poverty. Their wages are miniscule, like everyone elses. They live by faith, literally, trusting Him for everything. Looking to Him for everything. Their reward has been to experience the provision of God in the midst of what we would see as impossible. That young man, visiting here in America, had been exposed to a land of plenty. He lacked for nothing. He ate excellent foods, slept in comfortable beds and locations, and taken places he never thought he could see. His hosts wanted him to stay on indefinitely, but he, who had never known such a life, wanted to go home. He wanted to because he felt his intimate, abiding, totally trusting relationship with His Lord was slipping away. Where once he brought every need to His Father, he now saw that every need was taken care of by his hosts, who were wildly wealthy in comparison to what he had always known. Yet he rejected that wealth because he knew that his true wealth lay in His Savior. He preferred to live in by faith in an Almighty God, than come to rely upon the passing goods of this world. How many of us can even begin to identify with that kind of faith, and that kind of relationship?

We live in an instant gratification culture. When we want something, we usually have the means of getting it. We like to talk about the "1 percenters," those we consider rich and wealthy, never even seeing that in relation to a great part of the world, we ourselves are 1 percenters. Even our poorest live in comparative luxury to a great part of this world. When you add that we have established endless government programs to assist the poor, we have created a system of care and dependency that sees no real need of God. We either feel that we can provide for ourselves, or find someone else who will. We never come to the place of desperate faith that has seen every other door close but His.

The young Haitian didn't want to remain here because he was losing sight of his God. Losing his grip on his faith. Losing sight of His Father as His Source. He recognized the danger. Have we? Like Moses, he turned his back on "the riches of Egypt," because of the immeasurable riches he knew in Christ. Have we the courage, the faith, the will to make such a choice?

This is not an exhortation to sell all and take a vow of poverty. It is a challenge to examine ourselves as to where our dependency really lies. Who and what is really our Source? Has our material abundance deadened our need of Him? Do we look to portfolios, investments, real estate, and so on for our security? Or do we hold it all loosely, while keeping an iron grip on Him? I believe that we live in days where our loyalties, our dependence really lies is being tested. He is shaking this world. When the shaking reaches our earthly resources, will we stand firm because our trust and hope was never in them to begin with. Or will we crumble and fall along with them?

Blessings,

Pastor O