Make 2014 a year of Sharing
“And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” – Luke 9:58
Her purpose was to help others feel the love that God had shared with her. She had spent the majority of her life as a missionary in South Korea where the Lord had sent her and her family. Upon returning to the USA she realized that there was as much need here, if not more, for God’s love and word to be taken to the people. In 1986 she started Mission Arlington, just outside of Dallas, Texas. Her heart’s desire and passion was to take God’s word to the people who could not or would not come to the church. It has become one of the largest Missions in the United States and is branching out across the globe. Here we are 28 years later and Mission Arlington provides food, clothing, medical, dental, vision, legal advice, job placement, spiritual enrichment, training for missionaries, child care, education, transportation, youth and sports camps, and financial assistance to tens of thousands of people every day in and around Arlington. Her name is Tillie Burgin.
The amazing fact about this Mission is that it doesn’t cost Tillie Burgin or her family anything; other than their time and heart felt sacrifice of serving God. Everything is donated to them, so they in turn can serve the community. Every morning they open the door for donations and stand in prayer for the needs of their community. It is amazing how God answers the exact needs of the people through prayer and donations of clothes, furniture, vehicles and other household items. Medical doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, Teachers and volunteers show up every day to give of their time to help those in need. They have worked with local church congregations to expand their reach. In 2012 they were able to touch over 400,000 people with the word of God and many accepted Christ and are now in turn, helping spread the word even farther. Tillie, is doing this today, giving everything she has to serve God. It’s not a story of 100 years ago when life was simpler and times were less stressful. She is a committed example of what the love of God is able to do with one person’s life if only we are willing to let Him.
This is an amazing story, but it isn’t because of anything Tillie Burgin does. It is God working through her and her family, coupled with volunteers to impact the world around her. Any one of us could do the same thing tomorrow if we could put the world behind us and focus on God. The only limitation to succeeding in spreading God’s word, love and grace is self inflicted. I believe that many of us have become comfortably complacent in our Christian walk and focused on how it is helping us individually, rather than taking on the servants heart and prioritizing our time around serving and helping the greater community.
Rich Mullins once wrote a song titled, “Homeless Man”; but was tragically killed in a car accident before he recorded and published it. This home video was recorded just 1 week before he passed away in September 1997. In the song he sings about the fact that Jesus Christ was a homeless man and each day would find His rest and sleep wherever He was. He was fed through the love and charity of others and the work of His hands. He trusted His Father completely with every moment of every day as He continuously walked the roads of Israel.
So what are we dependent on? Over this week we have taken time to think big for what we can do to serve God in a more fruitful with means and without.
STEP 1: Make a list of the things you can do for God assuming you had no limitations
STEP 2: Evaluate what is keeping you from pursuing those things
STEP 3: Make a list of the things you can do for God with no means, no material possessions, job, family or money,
Now on to STEP 4: Evaluate and prioritize your time. With or without means we are all given the same 86,400 seconds in a day. You have to make choices on how you are going to use the linear timeline of each day. The choices all boil down to one of two things: Serving God or Serving yourself. You can make every excuse you want to about why you have to do what you have to do, but in the end it is an excuse. We are called to Serve God with our time, treasure and talents. The bible talks about giving back 10% to the Lord. If you gave 10% of your daily calendar to serving God, what would it consist of (8,640 seconds= 2.4 hours). Where can you find it? What will you do with it? Is it really asking too much to give God just 10% of your life? I know your day is full of things that have to be done so that you can pay the bills, raise a family, and find rest. We are all consumed with busyness, but we also allow ourselves to be consumed with distractions: TV, Internet, computers, dining out, entertainment, and so on. We waste no less than 2 to 3 hours a day doing something for ourselves, yet struggle to find 10 minutes to give back to God. Perhaps we have prioritized incorrectly
© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
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