“… Forceful men lay hold of it”

A couple Thai girls at our church spend one evening every week going door to door in a Bellevue apartment complex. This how we got together our Thursday night small group. Yesterday was supposed to be our last meeting, and I was a little apprehensive about how to handle the situation. Though I had a feeling the two couples who’ve been coming regularly wanted to continue meeting, I didn’t want to impose either, especially since I’ve only known the host couple a few weeks.

Thank God everyone is eager to continue meeting. The host couple is extremely sweet and has an 11-month-old boy. Both of them come from Christian families and have grandfathers or great-grandfathers who were ministers in Kerala, India. After everyone had left, when I asked them how they felt about continuing the meetings, they said Thursday night was something they looked forward to each week. Apparently, while they were still in India, they had prayed for an opportunity to host a Bible study in their home once they arrived here.

I feel blessed as well, to have an outlet for ministry. Sometimes, it’s so easy to get caught up in “churchy stuff” that we become out-of-touch. During our sharing last night, we talked about Matthew 11 for a while. Jesus describes the kingdom of God advancing forcefully, with forceful men claiming the ground. (The KJV uses the word “violent.”) I was reminded that Christians are ground soldiers in God’s war “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Last night, before the meeting, I had a chance to prosecute this war close up and personal. I went with one of the Thai girls to go knock on people’s doors and we were allowed into the home of a Hispanic woman with three young kids. She spoke a little English, and apologized the power was off because they could not pay the electricity bill. There were obviously a lot of people staying there, because beds were out in the living room. We shared the gospel with help of a Spanish language tract and she accepted God’s free gift of salvation.

The question now is: How should we help this lady? She is a single mom and is having a hard time finding work. She has no car, so would need a ride to church, and I’m not sure she has car seats for the younger two children so whoever came to pick her up would have to account for that. Still, despite the difficulties, doesn’t James say acceptable religion is caring for orphans and widows in their distress? What good is it if we say, “Go, keep warm and well-fed,” but do nothing for their physical needs?

UPDATE: My wife and I stopped by the lady's house on Friday and the lights were on. We were going to offer to write a check to the power company. She and the kids came to church on Sunday as well. I'm confident that God will provide her with a job, even as we do our part.