Decreasing by the day...

I have been thinking about the verse in John 3 lately. "He must increase, but I must decrease." I have heard this many times, in fact when I read them in my bible a few days ago I even had the verse underlined. It must have struck me at another time as well. But true to form, we are a forgetful people and I am no different. So the Lord reminded me of this truth just recently. A few days ago our project was placed in a poverty simulation. I am not allowed to go into too much detail about the simulation in case someone reading this decides they want to go on this project next summer. So if you would like to really hear about my experience in detail I would love to share with you sometime so just ask. However, I can give you an overview of what we did. We were considered the working poor. Some of us were homeless, some single parents, some families. I was a single mom. We slept in a "shelter" and were only allowed to have a couple items with us besides our bible and journal. We were given a small amount of money every morning, except for the homeless. They had to rely on others to get by. We had to pay for our babies if we had them, the shelter each night, transportation and any meals we wanted to eat that were offered to us. For the duration of the simulation, I did not get much sleep, I did not shower, I wore the same clothes and I spent time on the streets of Denver. We spend one day helping and evangelizing at a carnival put on my other Christian organizations. We all had to carry everything we had with us, including our babies. We got some really crazy looks and sometimes we didn't even get a look in our direction at all. I learned so much about poverty during this time. People assume that the reason people are on the streets or homeless is a direct result of not having enough money. However, that is not always the case. People end up homeless for all kinds of reasons and a lack of resources. For example, I can say with much confidence that I most likely will never be homeless even if I lost my home and all my money because I have a family support system, I have an education and I have positive role models in my life, along with many other resources. My eyes have been opened to so much and my heart has been broken for so many people. I am struck by the passage in Matthew 25:


“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me...wow...I want to have the kind of heart that overflows with so much love and compassion for people that I am willing to help all that I can. Not because it is nice to do but because it pleases the Lord greatly and He wants us to treat it as if we were helping Him directly. The point of the simulation was for us to really get a feel for what it is like to live in poverty. Even though we still didn't come to close to knowing what it really is like for people that are in these types of situations it really did open my eyes to a lot. I've also been learning a lot about humility lately as well and one of our leaders said it great in a prayer..."Lord humble us. Not so much that we would think less of ourselves but that we would think of ourselves less." Lord, I must decrease so that you can increase. This is not about us. This is all about Him.