Utterly Dependent
"All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth;
but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." -
Luke 21:4
In the 1920s and 1930s many Chinese Christians broke away
from the traditional denominations and formed their own
groupings. The most successful of these was the "Jesus
Family" begun by Jing Tianying in Shandong in 1927.
Shandong is China's third most populous province with approximately 100-120 million people. The Jesus Family originated in the village of Mazhuang when Shandong was racked by poverty and war. A man by the name of Jing Dianying organized the villagers and established a cooperative silk factory in 1927 that became known as the "Jesus Family". Although, it is estimated that this movement had no more than 12,000 total believers involved in it throughout China, several believe that this group had significant impact on the "House Church" movement in China.
In 1942 there was a tremendous drought in northern China. Aid began to pour in from the outside to help those people who were starving. The "Jesus Family" refused to take the aid. They continued to feed their people--not only that, but to give away the harvest. They worked up from 10 percent to 20 percent, and finally they worked up to where they gave away 90 percent of what they harvested. They supplied the food for five hundred people from forty-three acres of land. The Communists could supply less than half that amount per acre.
Somebody asked the "Jesus Family" leader: "Why would you
refuse aid when others were starving?" He replied: "Those
foreign churches would have robbed us of our anchor. It is
our financial needs that drive us to our knees and force us
to cry to Him."
Are you utterly dependent on the Lord for your resources?
Today in prayer, thank the Lord for all that He has blessed
you with and give to help the needs of others.
"The more you have the less you can give, and the less you
have the more you can give." - Mother Teresa
God's Word: "For I testify that they gave as much as they
were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their
own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of
sharing in this service to the saints." - 2 Corinthians
8:3-4
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2003, Devotional E-Mail
DEVOTIONS IN LUKE
pkennedy@devotional.com