My name is Bill, and my wife, Kelli, and I are visiting MBHOH this summer with the Show Hope sponsor team.
If you had asked me 6 months ago what I was passionate about, the word “orphans” would probably not have entered my mind much less come out of my mouth. So what changed? It’s pretty simple, really. I finally stopped skipping over James 1:27 and started reading it for what it truly says.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. – James 1:27
What is James 1:27 really saying? The widow and orphan are the perfect example of the helpless state we were in before God stepped in on our behalf. We were unable to, in our own power, change our situation of separation from God. Christ changed that, and through the cross he was able to welcome us into His family as “adopted sons and daughters.” In that same way, Christ wants to use us to be Christ to those without the means to change their situation, namely widows and orphans. Christ calls us to enter into their helpless plight and give them the home and family that He gave us as his adopted sons and daughters. That’s the call and the mandate of our Heavenly Father.
My name is Amanda, and I am on the Show Hope Sponsor trip to China. I have been thinking a lot about our responsibility to the orphans of our world. No matter what country they are in, they are God’s children. As we read about God’s answer to the orphan crisis in our team devotional, God has given us an invitation in James 1:27. In it God is saying, ‘This is my heart for my people. If you want to know me, experience me, and experience the life I desire for you, here is a blueprint for your life.” How do we then respond to this invitation?
As we play with the wonderful children at Maria’s Big House of Hope, I have found a little one that touches my heart, Jay-ar. I found myself looking at him with bittersweet feelings. God has allowed me to see this child through His eyes. I see that He has a plan and purpose for Jay-ar, but as I look at the situation he is in as an orphan my heart hurts. I pray that God will bring forth the body of Christ to help fund the operations of Show Hope. Please pray for the Lord to show you what you can do to accept the invitation He has extended to us to know and experience Him.
