What Should the Christian Response to Natural Disasters Be?

Let’s be honest here, my Christian brethren and sisters — we all know very well that the “natural” disasters that have cost and devastated the lives of millions in Myanmar and China in recent times are just the beginning and part of the “birth pains” before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we watch images of the tragedies on our television sets, it is natural for our hearts to go out to them, wishing that we could help in some small way. Most times, being Christians blessed in well-off countries, we do what we can financially to see that the survivors receive aid.

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:17-18

Yet, I believe with all my heart that we are to do more.

I am not advocating that all Christians have to pack our bags and go to the disaster areas to render help, but as the Church we need to be more concerned about the eternal fates of people than just their immediate comfort.

It’s the same analogy as “feed a man with a fish and he will be hungry again, but teach a man to fish and he may never go hungry again”.

Humanitarian aid is great — by all means donate money to build schools and hospitals, but in my opinion those institutions only address the needs of the people while they are alive on earth. The question that needs answering is this: what about their eternal fates?

I firmly believe that the solution and answer to the world’s woes is not merely in handing out more aid to the poor or more food to feed the hungry, but that we, as the Church, need to preach the Gospel! A person might be poor on earth and does not have enough to eat, but the riches of his faith in Christ Jesus ensures that he never again thirsts nor goes hungry eternally.

Please don’t misunderstand that I am mean and saying that we do not bother to feed the hungry and care for widows but just preach the Gospel. We need to do those things as well; what I am saying is that humanitarian aid should not take precedence over the preaching of the Gospel.

Good works are a result of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, not the other way around.

Our Lord Jesus Christ fed the hungry 5,000 but notice that that wasn’t His primary objective. When the people followed Him expecting more, He withdrew from them. Not that Christ did not care about them, but His concern was for their spiritual well-being more rather than their physical comforts.

What should our response be then, knowing that such disasters will not cease until the Lord’s return, bearing in mind that we who are blessed in well-off circumstances can do much?

Besides donating money to aid agencies in times of need, do you support a mission or native missionaries on a regular basis? Not all of us are called to be missionaries but we all have more than we need that we can donate to a native missionary to aid the spread of the Gospel. What little one can contribute makes a huge difference to the lives of both the missionaries and the people whom they minister to.

For example, many native missionaries in India walk an average of 10 to 15 miles everyday just to reach areas where people have yet to hear the Gospel, but for just a few dollars that you might otherwise spend on, say, a meal in a restaurant, you can help buy the native missionary a bicycle!

At the end of the day, my point is this: do good by all means, but the preaching of the Gospel is our duty, first and foremost. And for us who are not called to be missionaries, support missions and native missionaries whichever ways we can. It might cost you a nice meal or two a month, but what’s that compared to knowing that you have helped spread the Gospel to many who have yet to hear the Good News?!

K.P. Yohannan, in his book Revolution in World Missions, paints this beautiful picture: imagine that you have passed on from life on earth and are in heaven and these few people approach you to hug and thank you. Surprised, you ask them what they are thanking you for, and they answered that it was because of your contributions to the native missionary all those years that they heard the Gospel and now no longer thirst nor hunger.

God has blessed us with prosperity; let’s be wise stewards and use our abundance for His glory, and keep the missions and native missionaries in our daily prayers.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Photo Credit: A man sits among the rubble of his home in Beichuan, Sichuan province, China, on May 15, 2008. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg News