Thoughts on Charity

When we first met our night watchman, Crispen Ebemba, I was a little disappointed. I had hoped for someone that spoke a little better English and was a little more mean looking. Crispen had a round face, and couldn't be more than 5'5", so he wasn't the bouncer that I had expected.

We quickly learned that he was a very hard worker and desperately wanted our approval. Every night, we would take him a meal and share the leftovers with his family. One night, I realized that we had always expected him to eat outside and never invited him in. I told him to come in and pulled up a chair at our table.

Totally shocked that we would invite him in to eat, he bowed down to his knees at our table to thank us. He said thank you repeatedly, and I began to wonder how long he would stay down on his knees. We again told him to come sit down. He very nervously ate his meal, not being able to say anything other than "You are a good boss." He didn't feel like he deserved a place at our table.

I was reminded of the story in scripture where Lazarus longed for the scraps from his masters table, and the rich man gave nothing. Abraham tells the rich man, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony."

The humility of Crispen challenged my pride and my understanding of caring for the poor. If charity only involves hand outs, then humanity is only surviving and not being restored. We could have continued to take Crispen a meal each night and he would have continued to feel like he wasn't worthy to sit at our table. Our work should be one of restoring humanity. Helping people understand their worth in God's Kingdom restores a piece of humanity stolen away by sin. It is in these moments that we too are humbled to realize our worthlessness without a Saviour.