The culture here has been stunning. Kamar people are perhaps one of the most generous groups of people I've met and they are extremely giving in the little they have. Whilst we were there, we stayed in two host families homes and both times, they gave up their beds for us! This was an extremely humbling exprience for me as I reflected whether I would give up my bed for a complete stranger.
It reminds me of the passage in Matthew 25
v34-36 'Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
v40 'The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brtoehrs of mine, you did for me.'
Most people in Cambodia are Buddhists and have never heard of the gospel. Although they aren't Christians, they are still very generous people? It makes me think, what are we like as Christians? especially in the developed world where we have so much to give yet give so little? (reminds me of the story of the lady who gave her last coin).
Luke 21
The Widow’s Offering
1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”Do we give out of obligation/recognition or do we give out of love?
I have been extremely blessed to have been taught the lesson of hospitality and generosity for the past 4 years whilst I've been living in the UK and am currently living under the loving generosity of the Pickerings! But as we all know generosity as a theory is much easier than generosity in practice.
People who have a lot to give tend to not be as generous and warm-hearted as those who have very little and have never known any better. Odd how the world works, isn't it? I think it's the principle of "the more you have the more you want" at work.
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