As the name indicates, Feed the Hungry has ministered life sustaining food to countless multitudes who would not otherwise have hope today. As a pastor, I have received many offerings, from those of us who have, for those who have little or no food. Jesus both commanded and showed by example that our lives and hands must reach out to others and feed the hungry. If the rewards for handing a cup of water to a child within arms' reach bring notable mention by Jesus, how much greater must be the rewards for moving the tons of food from one continent to another.

While the cause of feeding the hungry is both worthy and honorable, one might argue more passionately that it is even an indication of the authenticity one's relationship with God. Isaiah 58 shows a people who were enthusiastic about going to church and eager to live righteously. It was these people whom God rebuked for rebellion, the sin likened to witchcraft, because they were not willing to "deal thy bread to the hungry".

As we feed the hungry, we are doing it as unto Jesus Himself. It is in turn, Jesus reaching out through people to touch a world that has not pressed through the crowd of life's challanges to touch Him. When Jesus returns for His church, the actions of the church should be such that the absence of her generosity is noted. Derelict of responsibility is a church unwilling to touch the world with the love of God.

Yes, there is a cause! Yes, there are rewards beyond comprehension. Certainly, we must obey our Lord's command and follow His example of feeding the hungry multitudes. Only when the church is also moved with compassion, as was her Savior, will she not be content to send away the multitudes to buy their own food. Isn't it the multitudes for which the church has prayed that she might see gathered? Has she not desired the nations touched with the love of God? Yet when prayer is answered, it rarely comes as previously conceived.

Still, there is a greater purpose of Feed the Hungry that unfolded before me on my trip to Mozambique -- nation building. Yes, the misguided use of the United States' armed forces is in fact a purpose for which God commissioned His army. How does Feed the Hungry build nations? Beginning with the foundation, and continuing throughout the fabric of society, Feed the Hungry is building nations one person at a time.

Food is simply the means to reach out to those who have reached out to receive. Food is the telephone line on which the the power to change a life travels around the world to calls that have previously gone unanswered. In the wake of famine, people are given hope. In the shadow of death, they are given life.

A demonstration of the good news of Jesus Christ has reconciled hostile minds to the love of God. Some may have heard words about Jesus but now they have seen acts of His love. Where there were enemies of Christ, now there are friends and receptive hearts. Where there was a famine of God's Word, now there is the establishing of churches -- churches which bring godly influence to their cities, their society and one day their nation.

There is still much to be given and much to be built. Building begins long before doors and windows are put in their place. The building begins with the foundation. It is the foundational Cornerstone, which was rejected by the previous builders of Mozambique, that is now being laid in this nation.