I remember my first real confrontation with poverty. Twelve years ago I was walking one night on the streets of Bangalore with my team leader, Bob, who was holding a brown sack full of little bananas freshly purchased from a fruit stand. We were walking back to our team’s hotel when a small thin, shabbily dressed child, no more than 5 years old, approached us hunched over with his palm cupped. He extended his hand to the bag Bob was holding and then brought his tiny fingers to his mouth, motioning like this several times, saying “Uncle, please…Uncle please.” Bob handed a bright yellow banana to the child who immediately peeled it and took a bite. Soon a few more children crowded around us, similar to the first child, asking for food. As soon as Bob reached into his bag and grabbed a few more bananas we were surrounded by nearly 50 children from the alleys and corners of the town pushing and crying out for a banana. I remember feeling a sense of discomfort and fear and then feeling so overwhelmed and helpless, wanting only to make like a banana myself and split. Their physical, temporal need was so great and yet our purpose for coming was to share Jesus with them, a spiritual, eternal reality. It was hard to bring these two needs together. Might Jesus have been there to multiply the bananas perhaps all those kids could have had their potassium fill for the evening. But they wouldsurely hunger another day.

I asked myself what is the work we are called by Jesus to do? Surely meeting a physical need is one of them. But God calls us to do much more than fill an empty stomach, which will soon hunger again. Jesus faced a similar dilemma when he multiplied a little boy’s lunch for thousands to eat. He met their momentary need with compassion, but they hungered again and only followed him in order to meet their physical craving. Jesus understood that the heart always craves something beyond the physical and emotional realm. The heart itself must be filled with Jesus and be transformed.

Often the moments we most mention those living in poverty is when we tag them on to prayers before we feast on a meal. These formalities reveal our own apathy of the physical, and more importantly, the spiritual realities of our world. Let’s remember that more than the physical blessing of food to eat, we have been blessed with the message of Jesus that others in the world do not have access to. We have Jesus, the Bread of Life and the Living Water, for those that hunger and thirst deeply for Him. Let’s give of what we have to meet their superficial need and share the good news of Jesus in order to fill their deepest need.

You don’t have to be in the streets of Bangalore to make a difference for God’s kingdom and meet needs. Here are a few opportunities in your neighborhood:

• Become a mentor to help a kid living in your neighborhood who is missing a father figure, growing up in poverty, or lacking a sense of identity in the world www.bbbs.org
• Serve the homeless in Dallas with those who are doing it with hands and heart and sharing the message of Jesus www.ourcalling.org
• Join World Vision and sponsor a child with as little as $1 a day providing them with food, clean water, healthcare, and education www.worldvision.org
• Get involved with a future service event with the Bridge