LET’S SAY YOU GOT SOME MONEY for your birthday or maybe you’ve been working an odd job or two, resulting in $50 in your wallet. What should you do with it?
There are a lot of options. You could blow it on something that would be gone in a flash (like food, coffee, or soda). You could buy something you’ve been wanting for awhile, like clothes, a new video game, or an upgrade for your phone. Or, you could continue to save it, add more to it later, and get something really nice in a few weeks.
Or—Hang on! This is an insane idea—you could give it away.
I hear you right now. “What? You’re crazy!”
Maybe I am. But, as followers of God, we’re called to be a little crazy. Proverbs 28:27 promises that “the one who gives to the poor will not be in need.” And in Matthew 6, Jesus says the phrase “when you give,” not once, but twice (verses 2-3). Not if you give, but when. As children of our Heavenly Father, who gave His only Son for us (John 3:16), we are to give that lavishly to others.
“But I’m a teenager. I don’t have tons of money,” you say. Ah, but it doesn’t take tons of money. It just takes a willing heart, a passion for others, and perhaps a little persuading to get your friends and family to help. The gift of one person can radically change a life. That life can change a town. The town can change the hearts of a nation, and one nation can change the world.
Consider how your gift to these organizations could change lives:
Project 61
The founders of this organization decided to start the ministry after they went on a mission trip to Ethiopia to minister to poor children living (and sleeping and getting their clothes and food) in a landfill. The founders, Corey and Sumer Yates and Samuel Liben, realized that food and an education would change a child’s life and get them out of their current, filthy, hopeless situation. For as little as $32 a month, you can provide food and education for a child in Ethiopia. Learn more at www.p61.org.
Mocha Club
Did you know that in Africa, $7 can sustain the life of a person with AIDS, provide clean water for 7 Africans for a year, or save a person’s life from malaria? For the cost of two mochas (hence the name), you can change a person’s quality of life. The website also provides you with a great way to raise awareness with your coffee-drinking friends, as well. Check out this organization at www.themochaclub.org.
Annie Armstrong & Lottie Moon Offerings
Named after amazing missionaries, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American Missions and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® for International Missions observed by Southern Baptist churches allow you to make a one-time-a-year donation directly to missionaries. These men and women are living a life of service to others in order to spread God’s Word in North America and around the world. Your gift will give them supplies, support, and more. Though there is no minimum donation, the maximum is endless as you and your friends read about missionaries, pray for them, and find ways to support them yourselves. Find more at www.anniearmstrong.com and http://bit.ly/4EEH1s.
World Vision
This organization gives you dozens of ways to give to people in need all over the world. You can sponsor children, donate animals to a farming family, provide training for people without jobs, provide clothes, and more. It’s the perfect gift for the person who has everything, since you can give a gift in honor of someone! Request a copy of their catalog or check out the website (www.worldvision.org) to see how your donation—of any size—can change someone’s future.
The Water Project
Clean water is something Americans rarely need to think about. But for people all over the world, a lack of clean water is a daily stress. They must either travel miles carrying water or they take their chances with water that is not clean, and both of these options negatively affect their health. But for as little as $10, you can provide fresh, clean water for people who desperately need it. Check it out at www.thewaterproject.org.
Give because you can. Give because you want to. Give because you want to show others how much God has given you. Just give. It can change the world.
