Lose, Lose

Everywhere in South Africa, there are beggars. Being here for a few days now, it's been difficult discerning the best way to deal with the situation. Many of the beggars are harmless youth; refugees from other countries in Africa who have no other means to live other than begging. It breaks my heart to hear them over and again plead for a Rand or two..which is maybe 10-20 cents in American money. I have the means to do it..so why not? 

As we talked to some of the locals and national staff to hear their thoughts, they discussed the difficulty with Americans giving to beggars. By giving to them, you are often giving them a wrong stereotype of an American. They believe that every white American is rich and will just freely empty their pockets so that the beggar will stop "bothering" them. By not giving to them, they may be left with no meal for the rest of the day. It's a lose, lose situation. So what do you do? Give them a Rand knowing you will help them, but also feeding them the false idea that they are poor black beggars and we are rich white Americans, and it will always be that way? Or refuse to give them the money..and leave them hungry?

As my friends and I were walking back to our car from the shopping center this afternoon, we passed by an old black man sitting at the corner of a traffic light. We overheard his tragic words that pierced my heart with the reality of this fallen and broken world, "If I was not born a sinner, I would have been born white."

I know my God is a God of victory. Not a God of "lose, lose." So then what's the win?

As I read through Scripture today, I came across John 9. The entire chapter tells the story of Jesus healing a man born blind. There were two parts of that story that particularly spoke to me as I wrestled through my thoughts. The first was found in verse 3 when Jesus says "It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins that this man is blind. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him." I often find myself asking the question "Why?" as I observe and experience more and more of the suffering around the world. I still don't fully understand it..but I do know that the power of God can be seen through it. Even here, I have already seen the power of God's mighty hand at work. Sadly, I didn't initially think that was enough. But if God does all things for His Kingdom and Glory...surely any power seen in and through this world, is enough. Secondly, I realized that Jesus was also in a "lose, lose" situation. The man born blind was healed on the Sabbath, which is the day of rest. When Jesus came across this man, if he followed the Sabbath, the man would not be healed; lose. If he did heal the man, he would have broken the Sabbath; lose. But the result was a Win. Why? Because God was given the glory. Jesus does heal the man, because in doing so, He was able to proclaim the power of Himself and the Father. 

I want to do that. I want to be able to have discernment in a world where losing seems to be the only answer. I want to be a representation of Christ where "the win" is an obvious answer. Lord, help me.