Mission Focus

As my children create their wish lists, we have parties and family gatherings, bake goodies and candy, wrap gifts, and anticipate getting up to a room full of gifts on Christmas morning. I'm trying to get them to focus on Christ, but also to have a mission focus. I have received a couple of magazines from World Vision lately. I have been intrigued by them and thumbed through them casually. This morning in our Bible study we reflected on children around the world that aren't as blessed as we are. We may be "poor" by American standards, but we are incredibly rich to much of the world who long for clean water, shoes for their feet, and a meal each day.

We had Bible study this morning and then I pulled out the magazine and we decided to create a donation jar for World Vision to help those in need. My kids were so excited, they went and grabbed their piggy banks and emptied it into the jar. I'm putting this jar in a location where we will see it each day. This isn't just a Christmas project, it is a Mission Project. While I know there are many charities and needs to be met right here in my own county, I also realize there is a world of basic needs that people lack, and a world that Jesus loves and wants us to love and care about as well. I want my children to realize that we are blessed beyond measure. I want them to see the WORLD that Jesus loves and wants us to love and give generously too as well.

Here is a verse that my kids memorized a few weeks ago that became our focus verse for this project:

2 Corinthians 9:7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

My heart smiled this morning as my children volunteered to get their own money before I even suggested it. They were a true example of a cheerful giver. While I told them it is perfectly fine to show love in gifts to our loved ones at Christmas, which is what we do. We should also realize that there is so much more to it! Jesus loves everybody and I think sometimes we tend to forget that as we walk out our front doors and see our little area of the world.

World Vision