The majority of Hispanics have migrated to the United States for one reason: work. Often, well-paying jobs are difficult to obtain in Latin America. Countless first generation Hispanics do not visualize themselves retiring and dying in the United States, but rather saving a certain amount of money so that they can return to their countries of origin to live more comfortably. Others support numerous family members with their hard-earned cash and feel the pressure to provide for elderly parents, orphaned siblings, or hungry wives and children. For this reason, numerous Hispanics find it difficult to treat Sunday as a special day to congregate together rather than another opportunity to earn money.
Believers who minister to Hispanics will be frustrated by those who flippantly forsake the worship services in order to get ahead in life. Years ago, I preached a sermon regarding the importance of not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25). Afterwards, a Honduran confessed that he had never realized the importance of the congregation and vowed never to labor another Sunday, even if his boss ordered him to report to work. I never saw this man again because he began to work every Sunday. It is one thing to understand a biblical truth intellectually, but quite another to put the truth into practice regardless of the personal consequences.
Mature believers must patiently teach new Hispanic believers that laboring on Sunday to earn extra money ultimately is a failure to trust in God’s provisions. The author of Hebrews asserted: Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU” (Heb. 13:5). Some Hispanics (like many Americans) will never put this principle into practice, but others will as their faith in God blossoms.
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