Posted January 27, 2004
Many charitable organizations are facing financial strain. Not one would say it has enough funding. Charities try to stem the tide of an increasing staffing cost while maintaining focus on their primary cause. They reach out to the public for assistance—but the public seems to be tired of doing good, or skeptical of how the money is used. A generosity burnout perhaps?
On a journey from Edinburgh, Scotland to London I was reading an advertisement by a charity offering a chance to "save the world." It was a chance to sponsor the reclamation of an acre of ground in the rain forests of South America for the equivalent of a few dollars per month. This is only one of many charities concerned about our misuse of our habitation.
Too little, too late, we are realizing that planet Earth's survival systems—interdependent and beautifully designed—are being damaged and depleted by man's activities. Television ads request us to commit a few dollars or pounds per month to protect our children from abuse, rehabilitate them from drug use, provide funding for orphanages, give shelter to homeless people, fund winter heating for the elderly, take care of abandoned pets and so on. The list is growing by the year and represents a desire by many to help out where possible.
Many people providing a small monthly gift can indeed accomplish a lot. But are we fixing the problem or only bandaging the wounds? As long as we do not handle the cause of our social and environmental challenges, their scope and nature only becomes more and more complex.
The loss of many mature people in the first and second world wars depleted nations of some of their most experienced and educated talent. Survivors tried to return to normal life after experiencing unimaginable horrors.
Many lost faith in a supreme God who would allow such wars to take place, so faith and biblical standards were not passed to the next generation as before. This lack of respect may have contributed heavily to the '60s generation challenge to their parents and society in general. The '60s teens are today's grandparents—so now we have been separated from the source of biblical solutions for several generations!
You've probably heard the fictional tale about a Dutch boy who held his finger in a hole where a dike wall had begun leaking. He held it there until help came and Holland was saved from flooding. The story has a lesson for us: If we take personal responsibility where we see problems, someone may come along to fix the system before disaster strikes. Many charities have tried to do this, but there are so many leaks and not enough help to save our world.
So many have confused what we have done to ourselves throughout history—exercising freedom of choice—with a lack of interest or acknowledgement of God. But He is going to intervene! Jesus Christ described a time at "the end of the age" when "unless those days are shortened" no human beings would survive (Matthew 24:3, 21-22).
Would you support an organization that can provide certain hope for the future by defining the cause of man's problems and outlining the solution? That hope is not based on our limited human ability, but on the Divine Being that so many have lost contact with. We have a responsibility to encourage people with that good newsThe good news of God's everlasting kingdom to be established on earth after Christ's return and how we may be a part of that kingdom. This message was central to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The term is used about 100 times in the New Testament ..
In a future age soon to come, God will deal with the root cause of marital problems, child abuse, battered spouses, drug and alcohol abuse and the destruction of our habitat. Human nature will be understood for what it is—a mixture of good (as seen by much voluntary and charity work) and evil (as seen by our materialism, misuse of resources and rejection of God's revelation to us). It will be countered by and voluntarily exchanged for a spirit of concern, peace and patience toward each other, among other qualities.
