It’s No Accident; Make Way Partners
12 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Ministries
It’s no accident that you were born when and where you were. On Randy Alcorn’s blog, he posted a link to the Desiring God blog about why we were born in this time and place. The full post is definitely worth reading, and you can find it here.
Here are just a few excerpts from it, and then at the end of the article Randy Alcorn posted some great ministries that he supports. I’ve decided to feature some of those ministries on my blog, one post at a time. Today I’ll be talking about Make Way Partners.
If you have the ability to eat three times per day and have shelter over your head, you are better off than many people in the world. If you earn $25,000 per year, you are the richest 10% of the world.
You could have been born as an impoverished child in an unreached nation. Perhaps as a girl born into a Muslim family where you would be forbidden to show anything beyond what can be seen through the eye slits of your veil and could be beaten if you disobeyed even the simplest command of your father. You could have been born in a remote village in Vietnam with little food or education and no opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You could have been born as a girl in Africa who will eventually be sold by your parents into sexual slavery. That could have been you.
But it’s not you. Instead you were born into privileged circumstances. Blessed physically, educationally, financially, and spiritually. Why? Only by the grace of God. What is our response then to such blessing and grace?
We take for granted the blessings that we have received from God. Instead of thanksgiving for what we have received, we complain about and lust after the things that we don’t have. We covet what our neighbors have. We idolize material things. We are surrounded by clear, tangible, practical blessings from God that should be so easily recognized and enjoyed.
And another crucial response to God’s blessings and grace in our lives should be to look to share with those in need. Rather than looking at our own circumstances and then the unfortunate circumstances of others and saying, “Thank God I’m not them!” We need to recognize that our circumstances are by the grace of God alone in order that the grace of God might spread from us to others. This is certainly true in care of the global poor. If Christians would simply tithe it is said that the global church would have sufficient funds to solve world poverty…Giving among Christians was higher during the Great Depression than it is today.
But again, by the grace of God, you weren’t born into those circumstances. You were born into your own. So you can ignore what could have been and just continue in the circumstances you have been given by God’s grace. Or you can choose to recognize that you are who you are, that you are saved, that you are blessed, that you are undeservedly loved— only by the grace of God— and choose to do all that is in your power to help those in need. To invest the blessing of your education for those who have none. To invest the blessing of your finances to help those who have little or none. To invest your spiritually blessed life to help those around the world who are lost without Christ to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
Make Way Partners
Through the hope of the Gospel, Make Way Partners goes to the most vulnerable and least protected to end human trafficking and modern-day slavery. The ministry was started by a woman in Alabama who left corporate America after she felt like her life wasn’t really leaving any sort of lasting mark. They use two criteria to select places of ministry:
- Where women and children are at highest risk of human trafficking, forced prostitution and other forms of modern-day slavery
- Where little to no other help is available because it is considered either “too” dangerous, “too” expensive or “too” remote for most people to go.
Eastern Europe and Africa are the two fastest growing regions for human trafficking, so that’s where their primary focus is. This includes areas like Sudan, Congo and Romania. Research shows that the best way to end trafficking is prevention.
To find out more, to donate, or to go on one of their mission trips, go to their website.
