Every Cent Is Sacred

By Andrew McChesney

Shyamala’s eyes widened with surprise as she read the handwritten note tucked in an envelope with two money orders worth U.S.$110.52. The letter came from the U.S. East Coast, and the money orders were made out to Global Mission, the frontline arm of Adventist Mission whose missionaries start new groups of believers in unreached territories.

“I have enclosed a donation to Global Mission to help people learn about the love of God,” the letter read. “I love God and try to help spread the gospel in my neighborhood.”

Image © Pacific Press

It was the next part of the note that astonished Shyamala, a donor specialist at Global Mission. The writer explained that the $110.52 donation consisted of pennies that she had found on the street. When her jar of pennies got full, she cashed them in and sent the donation.

“This gift is pennies that I collected for Jesus,” she wrote. “I hope it will bring smiles to someone as you share the love of God.”

Another surprising letter arrived at Global Mission’s office at the General Conference a few weeks earlier. The letter, from the U.S. West Coast, contained no note, but the enclosed $165 check spoke volumes. It was issued by a prison on behalf of an inmate. With inmates earning up to $55 a month at the prison, the donor would have had to work at least three months for the gift. “And it wasn’t his first donation,” Shyamala said.

A third letter was opened by Nimfa, who, with Shyamala, runs the donor relations department at Global Mission. The letter came from a man who had called Global Mission’s hotline a few days earlier to inquire whether Global Mission had received a donation submitted through its website. Nimfa found that the caller’s bank had rejected the transaction. When the caller asked for an alternative way to donate, she suggested a check or a wire transfer. A check for $70,000 arrived a few days later. The donation was the proceeds from the sale of a piece of property. “The man promised God that if the property sold, he would give everything to mission,” Nimfa said.

Stories about the faithfulness of people to God’s mission deeply touch the hearts of Shyamala, Nimfa, and others who work at Global Mission. Whether the donation is $1 — one donor has sent three $1 bills every month for years — or $70,000, every penny goes to frontline work. “Every cent that we get is no ordinary cent,” Nimfa said. “When we receive a donation, especially when we learn about how that money got to us or why it was sent to us, we are reminded that every cent is sacred. It is the Lord’s money. Every cent goes only to help finish the work so Jesus can come.”

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

Amen!(2)

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Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The First Great Deception,” Pages 531-550, in The Great Controversy.

If you have ever been in surgery and were put out with general anesthesia, you might have a faint idea of what it must be like for the dead.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

But even then, when under anesthesia, your brain still functions. Imagine what it would be like for the dead, when all brain function, everything, has totally stopped. Their experience in death, then, is to close their eyes and, as far as each dead person who ever lived is concerned, the next thing they will know is either the second coming of Jesus or His return after the millennium (see Revelation 20:7-15). Until then, all the dead, the righteous and the wicked, rest, for what will seem to them to be an instant. For those of us who remain alive, death seems as if it lasts for a long time. For the living it does; but for the dead it seems to last only an instant.

“If it were true that the souls of all men passed directly to heaven at the hour of dissolution, then we might well covet death rather than life. Many have been led by this belief to put an end to their existence. When overwhelmed with trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an easy thing to break the brittle thread of life and soar away into the bliss of the eternal world.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 539.

“Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left no such assurance. Christ and His apostles have given no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection.” — Pages 549, 550.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Understanding Human Nature first appeared on Sabbath School Net.

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