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Can money save Africa?
Monetary handouts have never helped anybody in Africa.
We in Kenya have witnessed and seen with our own eyes the damage done -
- when people give money to whomsoever asks for it.
It leads to strife and unrest.
People become lazy, sitting hours and hours, writing soppy stories to get gifts and money.
In Africa, missionary work is normally associated with material help.
Such work has very little to do with helping people come to a new life in Christ -
- where they overcome sin and become happy in the circumstances where God has placed them.
Many people in Africa are able to live off what they produce on their land.
And this is how it is with Alex and his family.
He and his family are quite happy and content with their lifestyle.
Like everywhere in the world, they also have their different challenges in daily life -
- but in seeking God they get wisdom to live a good life right where God has placed them.
Alex and his family are about to receive a visitor from overseas.
The guest is overwhelmed by the living conditions that are so different from his back home.
He can't believe that these people can ever be happy in such circumstances.
But the visitor himself does not understand that it is when you are discontent -
- and always looking for better circumstances, that you become unhappy.
Feeling sorry for them, he wants to help Alex and his family.
But the many donations he starts sending, actually rob Alex of all initiative to think for himself -
- and be productive in the circumstances God has given him.
It robs him of his joy, and instead of working on the land, he chooses to sit in an Internet cafe.
Here he writes exaggerated emails about how difficult it is for him to live in such poor conditions.
He sends the email in hope of receiving money from sympathetic people abroad.
But even all these donations can't bring back his joy.
It only leads to further jealousy and unrest.
Most of the missionaries who came to Africa to preach the gospel -
- were seen as a source of getting material,
- so many created a lot of stories to get the money.
We should believe that God can really bless the work of our hands -
- if we are upright and give ourselves to Him -
- rather than being lazy or expecting some material gains.
The problem is the sin dwelling in the flesh.
When we share experiences like that, that strengthens the faith of those who are in Africa also.
They understand that we have the same aim, to fight against the sin that dwells in the flesh.