We often asked ourselves, how can we serve God? Serving is “work”, fulfilling the faith we profess to the almighty, because faith without works, is dead.
James 2:14-18
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
In the verse above, I’d like to reflect on what really matters in the eyes of God, of who among us is really loving Him? Is just by saying Lord!, Lord!, Lord!, and I love you Lord, is enough? Or to believe and have faith in Jesus will save you?
Let me go to discuss with you my personal experience and understanding of serving our lord Jesus Christ, by bringing into action “Love one another” in our community. I am particularly bringing into view the “Breaking the Bread Ministry”, a small hand of God for reaching the poor young street children of Bago Bantay, specially the BLOCK 5. Out of knowing, I have never imagined in my life to be with the class of Street Children, never thought either to be with a BTB who’s concept is to tend the most hated, ignored, and rejected members of our community, I have never felt and realized the insults that not can only hurt any ordinary human beings, but to vilify them at their young and tender age, is a condemnation to rob them of their chance for a bright future in life. Instead of helping them, carve them to be productive part of our society, we turn to be instruments of their destruction. We play the role of multiplying the aches of our society by making the street children potential and future criminals in our own neighborhood. We continue to throw a blind eye at them, they’re hungry, homeless, parentless, sick, beggars, and their rowdy and rascal behavior is not their making, we maltreated them, our insensitive and inhuman ways with them is what had made them.
Are we following Christ? If we are sincere in our hearts of loving the Lord Jesus, we should follow His very words. In the case of children, we should be reminded of Matthew 18:2-6
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
(Matthew 18:2-6 ESV)
No matter what kind of child that might be in the scripture, surely I imagine a child seemingly the same as of our street children today, thinking that Jesus preaches in small towns and villages around. Not only that, a better example of a child in Matthew 18 is a child poorly in stature, a child even the apostles in Matthew 10:16 prohibited of coming to Jesus because these children might interrupt our Lord because of their poor and rascal behavior?
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
(Mark 10:13-16 ESV)
What is the matter with us when it comes to street children? I presume we outcast them because they have nothing to give us? We are good only to others whom we can have benefit for us? Is this what Christ teaches?
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
(Matthew 18:10 ESV)
In the gospel, Jesus have shown love to the children, are we not to follow Him? He strongly emphasized that children are clean and pure in heart and is a guiding example for all of us. Training them and teaching them about God and good things are for us.
We have responsibilities. Not only as parents to our own children, but to those children as well who’ve lost their parents, guardian, and obviously street children who roam the streets for food and shelter. Jesus spoke in parables of a good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the lost sheep, these are examples how God wanted everyone to be equally enjoined in His kingdom.
Why some are rich and others are poor? Why some are healthy and others are sickly? Why did God permitted so many things of good and bad in this world? I suppose in the middle of it, between the good and evil, there is the Word of God (scripture). We are given freedom, to fall to sin or not. In our case, the street children is a reality given by God, we have our children in our own families and God extended in our view the street children and other sinners. What’s the purpose? In our tributary of environment, God made a calculation that we can handle the less ones accordingly proportionate to our blessings from Him. To act, is the key point. To answer to the call is critical. Before any blessings comes to our lives, God already had made a preparation on whom you should share those blessings, making you instrumental in His ways. But in majority, we loss this sight. We fall to greediness, and not share those blessings. Not every blessing is about money or material things. Some of us blessed in different forms ;
1. health- to be physically able to reach the poor and do good things.
2. Compassion- to show love and kindness to the poor.
3. Prayer- to be meditative and prayerful for the less and sickly brothers.
4. Talent- to serve as part of his church growth and evagelization.
BTB has began and it will go forth the same as the Lord Himself commissioned His disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God in all the earth. We operate in our own personal resources of time, money and talents which we accept is limited. God’s plan as it is, He did not call others who are vast in resources to administer BTB? Perhaps those who are blessed so much didn’t hear the call? Remaining blind by the pleasure and wealth of this world? Or why others are not with us is because their blessings are used for social display only? Or maybe street children is not a good class ministry either?
We cannot change the behavior of street children overnight, we are with them only .60% percent only of their time, and 99.4% is still spent in the streets and their usual lives. But imagining the ratio, I calculate 90% of them have shown to us affection, love, respect, kindness, memory of God and prayers they brought home to their parents and within their usual environment. Their sense of belonging to the BTB have given them dignified feeling and recognition at last. Although changes were gained, but their rowdiness and misbehavior's’ is natural and innate in them before we stepped into their lives, a mountain of complexities and professional solution is not enough, because social balance in their lives at the beginning were already lost. We are not the solution, but God had shown love to the children, as in the gospel, His loving hand reaches to them through us, even we are weak, fragile in faith, and unworthy to be inside in His divine embrace to the children.
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