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In January, our pastor preached on Acts 3:1-9. It's a familiar passage. Peter and John were on their way to the temple one afternoon. A lame man at the gate called out to them for money. Peter said, “We don’t have any money, but I’ll give you what we have.” Then, he told the man to stand up and walk. The man was healed.
Our pastor emphasized the fact that what the man asked for was not what he needed most. In healing him, God gave him what he needed, not what he asked for.
Last month, I heard the same passage preached again. I will talk about that perspective in part 2.
Applications
Both of the applications (part 1 and part 2) are relevant to the work of Maisha Kamili.
We have many needs. Many of our needs aren’t our own, but the needs we are trying to help the community with. We ask and ask. God does not always deliver what we ask for, what we think we need to help the community. When God delivers something different from what we ask for, it can be hard to see what he delivered. Presumably, whatever he has given is what we need, but it's difficult to determine that when we can only see the unfilled needs around us.
Giving from Faith
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
—James 2: 14-16
It’s easy to say, “All anyone really needs is Jesus/salvation.” But physical needs are real, and they matter. It is not enough to share the gospel, telling people to come to Jesus, and do nothing to help their physical needs.
This is the tension in the work that we do.