You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. (NLT)

You don’t give to ACF, you give through ACF.  

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How many of you have heard this saying at the end of a service on a Wednesday or a Sunday? When you hear it, what do you think? Do you hear a clever little phrase that is thrown out there as a way to make you give? Is the statement for someone else to hear? Is it someone’s else’s responsibility to give more than you?  

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Or, when you hear this statement, does your mind turn to all the things that ACF does to reach out into our community and on the mission fields we support throughout the world?  

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Why do you give? Do you give for the one that is lost and may be found?    

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I know it can be difficult at times to see how your hard-earned dollars can make a difference in someone’s life. I mean, really, can a person receive Christ just because you tossed some money in the offering plate or gave the customary ten percent of your paycheck to the church? I will tell you – my answer to you would be yes!  

I think about the organization Compassion International. It is an organization that matches children from around the world with financial sponsors. These sponsors pick a child to support and commit to paying a set amount on a monthly basis. The ACF family supports over 500 children in Burkina Faso, West Africa, as well as children in Peru, South America. Compassion International uses these funds to provide “your child” with education, hygiene training, medical checkups, nutritional support and individual care and attention.  

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I recently read a testimony from a man named Kennedy. He was a young man from the Mathare slums in Nairobi, Kenya. When he was 8 years old, he was sponsored by a couple in Colorado Springs who didn’t have children. They told him he was enough, and they loved him. 11 years after leaving the program he wrote his sponsors and told them he made it! He was educated, healthy, was married with two children and now himself was sponsoring a child from the same slum he grew up in. Kenndey is just one of thousands of children this program has made a difference for.    

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So again, I will tell you, your giving does make a difference!

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Maybe you sponsor a child, maybe you give to ACF’s Next Step fund, or maybe you give the ten percent the Bible talks about every month, putting the distribution of these funds in God’s hands, having faith that your giving goes to where there is a need.  

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Or maybe you don’t give yet. If this is you, I encourage you to think about a time someone’s giving has helped you or someone else you know and care about. As you reflect, do you see how much of a difference it made?  

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Do you want to make a difference? Proverbs 11:25 says, “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” It is my prayer that you have this kind of generosity in your heart. Not for a blessing in return, but for being refreshed in your spirit, knowing that you are following Jesus’ command to give that others may see Christ through you.  

Dear Lord, open my mind and my heart that I may give generously, just as you have given so generously to me. It is in your Son’s name I pray, amen.