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By Wess Stafford January 30, 2008
Compassion's ministry is a bridge of blessing that changes lives on both sides — not only the sponsored child and his impoverished family but the sponsor, too. Sponsors often tell me, "I get much more than I give."
In my 30 years with Compassion I have found that you cannot out-give the poor. The blessing finds its way back to you. In fact, Scripture is full of promises that as we bless the poor, so God will bless us.
I am convinced that serving the poor is as close to the heart of God as we can get. But is sponsorship merely a nice little thing to do or is it actually a scriptural mandate?
I believe sponsorship is God's own strategic model for how He expects us to live out our faith in this hurting world.
Did you know the very first "sponsor" ever recorded can be found in the Old Testament? Pharaoh had ordered that all Hebrew baby boys were to be killed (Exodus 2), but Moses' family hid him for as long as they could.
They finally launched their tiny son in a basket-boat on the Nile River under the watchful eye of his big sister. Pharaoh's daughter, the Princess of Egypt, found Moses afloat among the reeds near the riverbank and was moved with compassion, not only to save the defenseless child's life but also to take care of him as her own.
Moses' quick-thinking sister read the love in the princess's eyes and stepped forward. "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" she asked. The relieved princess said yes and Moses' sister ran to get his own mother, to whom the princess said what you have said to Compassion — "Take care of this child for me and I'll pay the costs." Sponsorship was born!
We discover sponsorship again in the New Testament as God's own instructional example for us to follow. WWJD — What Would Jesus Do? We don't have to wonder if we read Luke 10. I think if Jesus walked this earth today He would be a sponsor. Why? He said we should strive to love our neighbor as ourselves and answered the question, "And who is my neighbor?" with the parable of the Good Samaritan, given to us in Luke 10.
In Jesus' story a Samaritan man came across a robbed and beaten Jew on the road. There was deep hatred between Samaritans and Jews. The half-dead victim was someone others had justified not helping. He would perhaps never be able or inclined to repay the Samaritan's kindness. But still the Samaritan was compelled to intervene — he got intimately involved at considerable personal sacrifice. His compassion cost him emotional investment, inconvenience, time, money, energy and risk of reputation or even injury.
After rendering first aid he transported the wounded man on his donkey to a safe place, an inn, to recover. He said to the innkeeper, "Take good care of him for me and I will cover the expenses." He voluntarily took on the burden of financial responsibility for this stranger's care for as long, and as much, as it took. Another sponsor! The man in need in this parable was most certainly not a neighbor by proximity to his Samaritan helper. In fact, the two men were as different as they could be — which was precisely Jesus' point.
My neighbor isn't only the person "just like me" whose house is next to mine but perhaps, like your sponsored child, someone from a different country, ethnicity, language, socio-economic strata or religion. It may be someone who may not be inclined to like me or my culture; even someone I may never actually meet. Jesus made it clear that anyone in need is our neighbor to whom we must extend compassion. In today's global village we are aware we have neighbors in need all around the world.
Jesus could have told a different story to teach His followers to be indiscriminately compassionate. He could have described other ways to accomplish this, but He chose "sponsorship" as His example because it is through sacrificial relationships that we best represent God's love. He concluded with words that roll down through the centuries to you and me — "Go and do the same." And as a Compassion sponsor you are doing the same!
I have seen the profound gift of hope delivered to a child in poverty more times than I can count, but believe me, it never gets old. When a child understands that a sponsor not only cares about her well-being but goes the extra mile to actually provide the tangible, practical benefits of that commitment every single day, that knowledge has transformational power in that child's life. You know, it's hard for a child to give up on herself when someone else believes in her to the point of personally investing in her.
In the stories in this issue you will see how good Samaritans like you are using the bridge of Compassion to provide the lifesaving and life-changing care of clean water, medical healing and encouragement to those in need.
We are honored that you "hired" us to facilitate your relationship of compassion with your global neighbors. On behalf of the little ones who cannot yet thank you, I want to express my gratitude as well as that of a ministry that is privileged to partner with you to serve the "least of these" on the other side of the bridge. As a Compassion sponsor you have stepped forward — like the Princess of Egypt and the Good Samaritan — to lovingly reach across boundaries and make the kind of difference in the lives of the poor that delights the heart of God.
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