For Lent I am going to give up not telling you how awesome I think all of you are. Which means, I’m going to tell you how awesome I think all of you are.

In John 3:30, John writes he must decrease so that Christ may increase.

Decreasing is not easy, not comfortable, not safe. Out cultural says we must increase. Leverage our resources to maximize our possessions and opportunities. Whether it is a car, house, salary, clothes or electronics, we are incessantly told we need just a little more, a little bigger, a little better. The media bombards us with the idea that accumulating things brings fulfillment. The Bible teaches the opposite. Spiritual prosperity is what matters. Being rich in Christ is what one should seek and treasure.

I could make a host of negative accusations about the North American church, but I want to make a positive one. There is a group of believers emerging in North America that is more concerning with compassion than they are comfort. This is resulting in sacrificial giving. Chesterton once said, “There are two ways to get enough: one is to continue to accumulate more & more. The other is to desire less.” This new group appears to be desiring less. The are a host of Scripture texts on sacrificial giving (2 Cor 8-9), and it seems to be becoming more of a priority for many Christians. Some sacrifice their comforts, some change their lifestyle, some downsize and simplify their life. Some give more, some give faithfully. A $15 monthly donation might not feel sacrificial, until that person is unemployed and continues to give.

We here at RHFH are the beneficiaries of this new trend. Despite the economic downturn in the past few years, the partners of RHFH continue to give and our needs have been met. We are humbled that so many of you give sacrificially towards what God is doing through RHFH. As much as Zach, Lori, Licia and the Haitian staff sacrifice their time and energy each day, the life saving programs and services we provide would not be possible without the grace of God and the kindess of people like you. For those of you whom God is calling to give sacrificially and are being obedient, we commend your faithfulness to the Lord.

We are encouraged there is such a remnant of people in the North American church. It might change the trajectory of the North American church as a whole. It might not. One thing I am confident in saying is that this trend in sacrificial giving is changing the trajectory for many Haitian people in rural Haiti. You denying yourself is helping to sustain the life of another. When you give up so much, you might not have the freedom or resources to make all your wildest dreams come true, but you make it possible for others to dream. You are rocking 2 Corinthians 8:15 like a boss in that many of you who have “gathered much have nothing left over” so that Haitians who “have gathered little have no lack.”

It’s kind of like Eugene Cho says, “It’s not to suggest that we have to adopt a lifestyle of poverty but rather…A lifestyle of enough. We have enough.
 We are blessed and blessed immensely. God has given us enough.
 God is our enough.” When God is our portion, sacrificial giving is really no sacrifice at all.

Amen and Amen