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Verse:May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. —1 Thessalonians 3:12, NIV
Not everyone can go out and change the world, but everyone can make a difference in the life of someone who lives nearby.
This notion is well expressed by the motto of ADRA —the Adventist Development and Relief Agency— which says, “Changing the world, one life at a time.” Much depends on how we use our resources. What do we spend on ourselves, and what should we use for the sake of humanity and God’s cause? Milton S. Afonso was born on December 12, 1921, in the little town of Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
From humble origins, he worked hard and became an extremely successful businessman. One of Afonso’s major enterprises, Golden Cross, became the fourth largest health insurance company in Brazil.
Nevertheless, he continued to show loving care for needy children, and he enthusiastically shared the Adventist message that he had embraced as a teenager.
As a philanthropist, Afonso helped improve the infrastructure of many schools and colleges, sponsored several thousand students annually, and ran a chain of orphanages. He helped build and maintain the largest Adventist radio and television network in the South American Division. Speaking of his philanthropic motives, Afonso said, “The Bible teaches that we should develop our talents and prosper... However, I have never thought of making money just for my own gratification. The most important thing for me is to help needy people, provide homes for orphans and abandoned children, and support the preaching of the good news of salvation. This gives me great personal satisfaction. At times people criticize me for being a philanthropist, accusing me of giving money just to show off. But that is not true. I can honestly affirm that I have never boasted about helping someone.” The record of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ is the most powerful appeal for philanthropy to our own neighbors. But “who is my neighbor” today? (See Luke 10:29.) According to Ellen White, “Any human being who needs our sympathy and our kind offices is our neighbor. The suffering and destitute of all classes are our neighbors; and when their wants are brought to our knowledge, it is our duty to relieve them as far as possible.”