“What you did for one of the least of these, you did it for me”

 “What you did for one of the least of these, you did it for me”

Today we went to the village to paint the house of the family that live in very poor conditions. There was only one bed in the whole house and no other furniture. There is no welfare in Fiji for single mothers, so this 34 y/o woman is raising her three children alone.

As soon as we came the work began: some washed the curtains and the walls, some fixed the ceiling, and others painted the walls.

By lunch time the work was done !!!

Before leaving I came to the mother to say good bye and she said how grateful she was that we all came and helped do all the work in her house. She said, she never thought something like that could ever happen. 

That brought a verse to my mind from Math 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

God wants us to express His love through works. “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17).

When I asked her if there is anything I can pray for her, she asked to pray that she could find a job to provide for her children. It is not easy to find a job in the village especially for people with no university education. But there is nothing impossible with our BIG God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly more that we ask or think (Eph 3:20).

We went to have lunch at the church and then we see this wonderful woman coming with her sister carrying food that they cooked for us to say thank you for what we have done in her house. What a blessing it was and we had  a surprise for her too. We found out that her birthday is coming in 3 days and we had a gift for her and some school supplies for her children. What a day of joy it was!!!

Our next destination was another village where we went to visit families to share the gospel. Many of us ended up visiting Fijian-Indian families who normally believe in Hinduism but many of us returned with wonderful stories of leading them to Christ. However, others had an opportunity to share the gospel without leading them to Christ due to the lack of time or language barrier since not all of them could speak fluent English or Fijian. 

The good news is that the seed was sown and our prayer is that God will send his laborers to continue the work that He has began in their hearts. 

“I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” (1 Cor. 3:6). We did our part and God will be faithful to accomplish His work in His timing.

- Olya Cherevko