THE VICAR WRITES
SJSM, 24/25 July 2010

RICHES OF ANOTHER KIND
 
“… no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age … and in the age to come, eternal life.” 
[Mk 10:29-30]

Since my soccer days in early childhood, I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to be in the stadium for a World Cup match. I must confess that as a school-boy, I have even day-dreamed of actually playing in a World Cup match! In any case, just being at a World Cup game was a faraway dream and something my football pals and I would just joke about. So, you can imagine my utter joy and amazement that now in my 50’s, my family and I have just been to the 2010 World Cup games in South Africa.

I write this as a testimony of God’s incredible goodness and how that goodness has unfolded in recent days. To be at the Finals not alone but with my entire family is a sheer gift from God ? a gift with many dimensions. Amazingly, everyone in the family loves football ? albeit to different degrees and for different reasons. With one child in National Service, another employed and two doing their studies, it was marvelous that we could all be on leave together. Even more marvelous that we all wanted to be on holiday together for about two weeks. But we could not have pulled if off without the body of Christ.

When the children got on the FIFA website and successfully balloted for the tickets at cost price, they passed me the responsibility of arranging for the accommodation. Aware of our budget and what the cost of accommodation can be like in major cities at peak time, I wrote to a pastor-friend of mine residing in Johannesburg to get help in securing economical accommodation. I had come to know him in the course of the mission work of SOMA. The work was sporadic but the friendship was personal. It was sheer generosity and kindness that he and his wife offered to accommodate our whole family of six ? even carving out some space in the living room for two foldable beds. They shared their home with us with such gracious hospitality that my family and I are still left overwhelmed to this day.

For two weeks, we had a home away from home. Our hosts didn’t just house us, they shared their kitchen and washing machine with us—an expression of the depth of spiritual friendship in Christ’s Kingdom. Amazingly, we had a base in his home while we travelled to different cities for the games. Even if my family could afford hotel accommodation, we would be living out of bags as we travelled from place to place for the games. And we would have missed the rich fellowship we had with our hosts around their dining table and during car rides. While based in Joburg, we even managed a weekend trip to scenic Cape Town where another spiritual friend hosted us at a Retreat Centre without charge and loaned us his wife’s car so we could drive around the Cape. O the gift of spiritual friends!

The whole experience has led me to appreciate riches of “another” kind that belong to the children and servants of God. In particular, the great riches of having “spiritual friends” in the body of Christ. The blessing of having spiritual friends is not confined to the wonderful help received in matters of practical living. Having spiritual friends is such a wonderful provision in those times when we have to come back from a losing position in life or ministry (which is what Brazil failed to do when Holland took the lead in the quarter-final match). And the presence of spiritual friends helps us not to be intimidated by the rough tactics of the enemy (which is what several of us celebrated when Spain won the finals by sticking to their style of play). Cultivating spiritual friends for life is at the heart of Discipleship, I thank the Lord that this is what providentially our Church is majoring on.

I can only marvel at the “riches” of another kind that the LORD has stored up for His people. It keeps us from the trap of seeking and elevating riches from a worldly point of view (2 Cor 5:16; 1 Tim 6:9-10). These worldly riches  so subtly become the markers of success and captivate us. In a real way, by being hosted by our spiritual friends (our brother and sister in Christ) in Joburg  my family and I had a richer experience than any 5-star hotel. We experienced a home of love away from home, and the joy of a family wider than our own. “No one who has left home or brothers or sisters … for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much.” Blessed be our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace (Jn 1:16, ESV), and the riches that come from our Father above.

Your brother and fellow-servant
Pastor Rennis