Love

I hurried to join the rest of my outreach group on a mission to minister to the homeless. Despite my warm clothing, the cold seeped through, and I shivered at the prospect of spending several hours outside. Then our leader stooped to talk to a man sitting on the sidewalk, huddled beneath a ragged jacket. Suddenly I forgot all about my grumbling.

We found the man a coat and some mittens for his near-frozen hands, and we listened to his story. When our leader urged him to go to a nearby shelter for help, he looked up with a weary expression. “God gave us the Ten Commandments and they’re all about love. I don’t know how we got it so wrong in this country.”

Weeks later, I still couldn’t forget those quiet, convicting words. It’s not only this country that’s gotten it wrong. Far too often I myself turn away from the world around me, forgetting that the One I follow heals the broken and loves the outcasts. When I turn away from my neighbors’ needs, I tell the world that the God I serve doesn’t actually love everyone. What a tragic lie!

God is love, and that’s why the golden rule is the standard of Christianity. I intend to live that rule; so I’m asking Him to teach me to love “in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Yes, it’s easier to turn away. Love costs. But the God of love has transformed my life. I want the world to know Him too.

Your friend,