Category: Love in Action

Philippians 2:4                                                       It’s Time to Help

“Do not think about the things that you want to do for yourself.  Each of you should think also about how you can help other people” (EASY).

 

This has become a very sad picture for me.  We took this while on a ministry trip for Creation Beckons that we took in 2012.  I have used this picture with the words, “rest” and “peace” as captions both on this website and on notecards.  This was a most restful and peaceful place along the Jonathan River in South Carolina, not far from Asheville, North Carolina.

From what I have been able to read, Jonathan Creek certainly flooded, many feet over its banks.  I know the swing from this peaceful site has been swept away, and as far as I can tell, the campground has been destroyed.

What was once a reminder of God’s peace and rest has become a reminder that many people in both North and South Carolina as well as other nearby states are in dire circumstances.  Some will be without electricity for months, meaning, for one thing, no heat this fall.  Water supplies are contaminated, and roads are washed out and will remain so for a long time.  We need to help these fellow Americans not only to rebuild their lives, but also to live from day to day now.  Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Blessing are two Christian groups active in providing for daily living and for continuing support for the many people affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.  Samaritan’s Purse is part of Franklin Graham’s ministry and can be reached at www.samariatnspurse.org.  Operation Blessing is part of Christian Broadcasting Network and can be reached at www.operationblessing.org.  You may know of other places offering help.  It doesn’t matter where the help comes from, but it does matter that we help.  These hurricanes and the damage they caused may have receded in the news, but lots of people are still hurting.  I encourage you to do whatever you can to help the people affected by Hurricane Helene, and also Hurricane Milton.  Let us show the love of God to these people.

Revelation 1:8                                               Unchanging God

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is  and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (NKJV).

 

The picture is of the main living space in a house of 150 to 200 years ago.  Although we can recognize many things, they do seem strange to us.  The heating for the house is right in the center, the fireplace.  There was no furnace.  The wood had to be cut, and the fire had to be tended.  I’m sure the temperature in the house varied greatly according to how close one may have been to the fireplace.  The sewing machine, which few houses have today, was run by a foot pedal instead of the electricity we use today.  Oh, that’s right, there was no electricity then.  The level of light in the house was not controlled by the flicking of a switch.  The chairs don’t look to be very comfortable—no recliners in this house.  I don’t mean to demean this house.  It had all the modern equipment of the day.  In the intervening years, homes have changed quite a bit.

There is one thing that hasn’t changed from that household and the modern household of today and will remain the same for as long as this earth may last.  Our Lord and His love have always been and will always be the same—from eternity past to eternity future.  Not only does His love remain constant, but the method of showing it to the world largely remains the same.  It’s passed on from person to person as in the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:39, “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (NKJV).  I said largely remains the same because there is the one magnificent difference—Jesus gave His life on Calvary to share the love of God with all of mankind at one time.  He did it once for all time.  It is up to us to make sure that all people, ALL PEOPLE, are made aware of His sacrifice, and He has asked us to do that by loving our neighbors as ourselves.  Actions speak louder than words.  A Christian life lived is much more effective than a Christian life spoken, but the best results happen when a Christian life is lived and spoken about as Paul says in Romans 10:14, “How can people have faith and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him?  And how can they hear, unless someone tells them?” (CEV)  So, let us live a visible Christan life and speak freely about it.

1 John 3:18                                                     Love with Action

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and with truth” (NIV).

“I love you” may well be the most used words, and perhaps even the most over-used words in the English language.  Many phone calls end with these treasured words, and they are often said when greeting someone we haven’t seen for a while, be it a week or a few years.  I don’t mean to belittle the use of these words for they can have great meaning, but are we sure that we really mean them every time we say them?  The Apostle John would have us put feet to these words.  A paraphrase of John’s message in 1 John 3:18, may be  “Love in action speaks much louder than love in words.”

In John 13:34, Jesus tells us, “A new command I give you; Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (NIV).  Jesus spoke these words to His disciples at what we call the Last Supper, the last conversation He would have with them before He was crucified.  As such, they had to have had special significance.

How had Jesus shown His love up to this point in time?  Before He walked among us, He showed His love through the magnificence of creation. When He walked among us, He healed those who were sick.  He promised hope, and He promised eternal life.  He taught the ways of God not only in the Synagogue, but He also taught them in the streets, and He taught them in the countryside.  No, Jesus was not one to spend all His time with the “important” people of the land. He walked and talked with John Q. Public, and He sat down to eat with him.  People stopped Him along the road and asked Him to heal them.  Even though he may have been on urgent business, He took the time to touch lepers and heal them, and He stopped when a blind man called for Him from the crowd.  He held children in His lap even though His disciples tried to shoo them away.  How did Jesus love?  He loved with His actions, with His life.

Not long after Jesus spoke these words of command to love, He showed His love for all of us by giving His life as a sacrifice for each of us.  He died to save us from our sins and to provide us with eternal life with Him.

Jesus commanded His disciples and us to love as He loved.  I may not be asked to give my life for someone, but many have.  I may not be asked to preach to large groups, but many have.  I may not be asked to serve in a foreign mission field, but many have.  I may not have been asked to show the love of Jesus through any of these very visible means, but I do believe that he expects me to show His love the ways He did—serving people’s needs on a daily basis, spending His time helping others in their day-to-day lives.  When I do that, I believe that I obey Jesus in His command of John 13:34.