By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)
Recently at church we had a series on the various I AM...statements that Christ made. One of those statements was that he was the vine from which we derived our strength. This got me to thinking as we often tend to react to challenges or anxieties on several different levels. Today I was working the Purple Door Festival in Pennsylvania. This is an alternative Christian music festival that caters to teens and young adults. Obviously not the type of crowd I am normally used to speaking to. However it was interesting to see the response from these folks in sponsoring children. Everyone first asks the question "How much is it?" When we tell them they either have the choice to sponsor or not. Unlike adults who have many questions about the ministry it is different here...
I have found that there are three schools of thoughts that I wish to share. Interestingly ,enough though I am applying this to sponsorship, it goes with everything we face in our lives.
Will Power- This is the first reaction- we want to make a difference or we want to make a change. Our heart is speaking to our minds. We encounter a problem and we need to solve it. Our heart is at work- this is something we want and we try to figure out how we can solve it. Once we get to that threshold we accept the challenge or solve the problem through sheer will power. Our hearts are engaged and we now hand it off to our brain.
Me Power- The second reaction is how will this impact me. How will I handle this. How will this new bill fit into my finances. How will I make the monthly payment? Usually our reaction to any challenge or problem is to figure out how it affects us and how we will handle it. If we get past that point we have shifted gears from the heart to the mind. Our brain is engaged and we try to figure out how to make it work.
Jesus Power- This is the final step....submission to Christ. Engage both the heart and the mind at the same time. This is where we come in line with Him and listen to His Speaking. Through prayer, through the Word and even through other's wisdom we can then truly tap into the power and make a Godly choice.
We sponsor 4 children- the first two required deep searching as to whether we could afford this....the last two it was not a matter of if we could afford but rather how could we afford not to. You see I am slowly learning the God does provide and no matter what He will not leave me with something I cannot handle. With everything I am learning more and more to trust Him and to tap into his power when I face everything in this life.