Truly, I say...

- "What do you do for Christmas?"

- "What do you mean?"

- "Does your family exchange gifts?"

- "No. We just put a tree up that someone gave us. 

But, we have a star on top of it." 

- "So, your family doesn't do any gifts at Christmas?"

- "No. But I save my money from working when 

school is out and buy myself a few used clothes. 

I wrap them in paper and put them under 

the tree and on Christmas I get to open them."

     This was a conversation I had recently with one of the boys I'm discipling from a local market. He is 13 and is the youngest of 7. I met him a little over a month ago, and have spent most days with him since. A few weeks ago, after having discussed Christ's work on the cross on several occasions and what it means to be a Christian, he told me, "I want to be a Christian. I want to follow Jesus and do what his words say." Since then, we've prayed together, talked about what it means to be a Christian and he wants to be baptized soon. In such a short time, I've come to love this boy like one of my own kids. I'm so impressed with his humility and joy in the midst of very little. While having the conversation with him above, I asked him if there was anything he wanted for Christmas that he couldn't get for himself. His response was that he was content with what he had, which is so little compared to what we think of as 'needs'. Content with 2 outfits, tattered shoes and a toyless childhood. Content with nights of hunger and absent parents. What an example of humility in a boy of only 13.

     After noticing that he wore the same clothes everyday he visited and that they were obviously worn and tattered, I decided to get him to be my guide one day to navigate the Cancha (our largest and cheapest market) to help me find some new clothes, since I've lost a lot of weight since our move. He happily agreed since he seems to really enjoy our outings and having someone to invest in him. Though both parents live at home, his mother is distant and his dad works a lot and is emotionally absent. He's told me several times that he and his dad never talk to each other. While in the market I bought him some clothes too. I spent probably $40 bucks and got him 3 shirts, some jeans, a few pair of underwear, and some shoes. But you'd have thought I bought him a new car. His gratitude and humility spoke volumes to the effect of my friendship in his life.

     This boy was hungry. Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. He needed attention, and to be on the receiving end of a father's love. Just by investing, not spouting rehearsed theology, our friendship was used as a vessel to bring him to Christ. This is why meeting needs for the sake of relationship is so important, and also why this is the direction in which scripture points us as believers.

     "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in that person?" (1 John 3:17) "If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical need, what good is it?" (James 2:16) "'For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they will also answer, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'" (Matthew 25:42-45)

     As Christians we must be on the look out, not just for physical needs but also emotional and spiritual needs; and we must learn to meet those needs as an example of Christ. Sometimes, we need to minister the food of scripture, while others need something physically substancial. Sometimes, we should be a vessel for the Holy Spirit to quench the spiritual thirst of those around us. Sometimes, we have to welcome the stranger who is an outcast, not because they are from another city, but because they do not yet know Christ. Sometimes, we need to walk in grace and love with those who are spiritually sick and in the jails of spiritual bondage. Sometimes we have to clothe others with that same grace and love because they've trusted us enough to reveal themselves to us. We must be ready and willing to not only provide physical needs, but walk in Spirit and in the Truth. But, we can't meet only spiritual or only physical. If we are to be a true light and example of Christ, we must walk in the kind of love that provides for both.