"Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."
James 1:27
"What is pure religion? What is pure Christianity? What is pure love? What is this life all about? Is it about how many people we lead to Jesus or how many churches we plant or how good a person we have been? Or is it about being so hidden in the heart of our awesome, eternal God of love that we are swallowed up in Him, so that it is no longer we who live, but Christ in us?
"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My breathren, you did it to Me'"
Matthew 25:40
Every day Jesus meets me in unexpected ways. Sometimes He is an orphan looking for low and unconditional acceptance; sometimes He is a widow desperately begging for a simple job in order to provide the basic necessities of life for her hungry children, sometimes He is another lost and broken person who just needs a hug and someone to listen to them; but every day I see Him in a new way.
Yes, we are seeing hundreds of Moslems come to Jesus every week; yes we are seeing multitudes of sick people healed by the power of the Holy Spirit; yes, we are seeing the kingdom of God come in power in the most dark and dangerous places in Mozambique. But, at the end of the day, what matters most is LOVE! I am trying to learn to be like Christ in every possible way, yet every day, I am seeing that Christ is already inside of me and He is happy to come out and make Himself known through me to the lost and dying world around me. He is happy to use my hands to pray for the sick, my arms to love on and to hug the orphans, my feet to boldly go anywhere to preach the Gospel of the kingdom to whoever's heart He has prepared to hear the Good News!
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."
Galations 5:6
What is faith working through love? Simply abiding in Christ and letting the sweetness of His presence flow through us and minister to those around us who are lost, dying and desperate for God. It is believing that which Christ accomplished for us on the cross is enough to equip us and empower us to be bright, shining lights amidst a crooked and perverse generation. It is laying down our lives, so that the kingdom of God can come forth to the broken, the lost, the dying and the weak. It is changing history one person at a time! Hallelujah!"
---Erik Shipley
in The Hungry Always get Fed
No comments:
Post a Comment