Taking a look at our actions.

John 13:34 (ESV)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

As we count down the days to the Olympics at my house I came across this story about the Seattle Special Olympics.

Nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back -- every one of them. One girl with Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said," This will make it better." Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story.

Oh, that we believers would have this kind of love, compassion and concern for one another. In this day and age, it seems we only look out for ourselves! When we see a brother or sister in the Lord struggling, many times our first instinct is to compare and criticize. We’re quick to rebuke and run for the winning finish line alone! But I think we can take a lesson from these “disabled” kids -- it makes me wonder who’s more disabled -- them or us?

If we each take a look at our actions perhaps we could show more love than we have been showing. If we see someone falling, let’s turn around, pick him up and help him to the finish line.

Dear Lord, we pray that we would be there to pick someone up today. Help us show Your love today to those that are in need. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Are we willing to reach out to the hopeless ones?

Matthew 7:16 (ESV)

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

Have you ever thought whether or not you are making a difference in this world? Do you find yourself often discouraged and at times shocked about your lack of zeal? Has this question ever haunted the recesses of your mind: "Do people see Christ in me?"

The answer is simple and is summarized in our Bible verse today: You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

But what if fruit is not forthcoming?

Then we should meditate on these very words Jesus pronounced: "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." (1 John 3:18)

As long as we remain in only an intellectual understanding of Christ, we will never be satisfied. Words are nice, but they are worthless when compared to genuine love. The ones who shine for Christ are not those who talk about God (Pharisees talked about God a lot and see what they did to His Son!), but are those who follow the footsteps of Jesus and love like He does. After all, Christianity can all be summed up in the word "love". If love is non-existent in us, we don't know Jesus personally!

Only if we decide to start loving others unselfishly will we begin to have a purpose in life, and this is a consequence of knowing Jesus intimately. People will notice that we have encountered the One named love (Jesus). "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

During World War II the Nazis turned Russian prisoners into slave workers. Their living conditions were atrocious and they barely received any food. None of them could last very long. If they made it through an entire year, they were the lucky ones. Hopeless and discouraged, these slaves often tried to escape. And why not? They were going to die anyway!

The Nazis threatened severe punishments to anyone who offered aid to these slaves. What would we do if we lived in Jersey, for example, and we encountered such a fugitive?

Would we denounce him?

No, we are not that kind of people!

Maybe we would give him some well-meant advice?

But that wouldn't really be of any help to him, would it!

Would we consider sheltering him?

Louisa Gould did. She sheltered Feodor Burriy, known also as "Bill", for a period of two years! Imagine the drain on her food resources! Already she was living with very little. Still, she couldn't help but reach out to this hopeless man.

In May 1944 she and her family were denounced. Her brother survived the cruelties of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, but Louisa perished in the gas chambers of Ravensbruck in February 1945.

And what of Bill? Thanks to this caring family, he was able to escape.

Would they have done differently if they had known they would end up in a concentration camp? Not if they were motivated by genuine love, for genuine love does not make exceptions! Genuine love would have still helped that poor slave worker with no hesitation whatsoever.

Louise and her family were not the only ones who helped fugitive slaves. On March 1966, the USSR presented gold watches to twenty of the Jersey islanders for their compassion towards these Russian slave workers.

If we had lived in Jersey during World War II, would we have been amongst the recipients of those gold watches?

The problem is, love can never be genuine if it doesn't come directly from God: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:1-2, NIV2) We have to be willing to be open vessels for the glory of God. We must depend solely on the One who is our gardener. After all, He is the only One who can help us become "even more fruitful".

Through Him, once we know Him intimately, we won't be able to resist the inner urge to "Do everything in love." (1 Corinthians 16:14, NIV2)

Only then will we do as follows: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31, NIV2)

So are we willing to reach out to the hopeless ones?

Dear Lord, soften our hearts so that we will see those that are hopeless around us.  Help us to reach out to them and be the encouragement and help that they need. In The Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Lessons from an ant

Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Ants scurry along their pathways, busy working, collecting, and storing. They're so tiny as to be insignificant to us, and yet beyond the frantic busyness that we human beings see, we tend to overlook that their one main purpose in life is to honor their queen, by providing for and defending her!

Oh, that we would be so focused and determined during every waking moment of our days, that our main purpose would be to honor our Sovereign too; but in our case, it would be by serving and defending our Lord and Master, our eternal, everlasting King -- Jesus!

Dear Lord, we pray that You will guide us during our waking hours, that we may honor You in all that we do! We pray that we will serve You and defend Your honor always. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Are You Better Than You Are Acting?

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Not many people realize that President Calvin Coolidge did not always live in the White House. As Vice-President, he became President upon the death of Warren G. Harding. Mrs. Harding continued to live in the White House for a time, so the Coolidges remained where they had been living - in the third-floor suite of the nearby Willard Hotel.

Once in the middle of the night, the new President awoke to see an intruder going through his clothes. He watched as the thief first removed a wallet, then unhooked a watch chain. Coolidge calmly spoke up from the darkness: "About that watch, I wish you wouldn't take that."

The startled man, gaining his voice, asked, "Why?"

Coolidge answered, "I don't mean the watch and chain, only the charm. I'm very fond of that charm. It means a great deal to me. Take it near the window and read what is engraved on the back of it."

The burglar read: "Presented to Calvin Coolidge, Speaker of the House, by the Massachusetts General Court." And now he was more surprised!

"Are you President Coolidge?" he asked. He evidently did not think he'd find the President sleeping in a hotel!

"Yes, I am, and I don't want you to take that charm," he said. Then he asked, "Why, Son, are you doing this?"

The young man explained that he and a friend traveled to Washington during their college break. They spent all of their money and had no money to pay the hotel bill or pay for train passage back to school. "If you don't mind," he said, "I'll just take the wallet."

Coolidge did mind. He knew he had about $80 in his wallet. So he said, "How much will it take to pay your hotel bill and get you and your friend back to the campus? Sit down and let's talk this over."

Coolidge added up the room rate and two rail tickets. It came to $32. That may not sound like much now, but it was a considerable sum then. "I'll give you the $32 as a loan," the President said, "and I expect you to pay me back."

The youth thanked him. Coolidge then advised him to leave by the same window he used to enter the room, as secret service agents were sure to be patrolling the hallway. As the young man climbed out, Coolidge left him with this admonition: "Son, you're a nice boy. You are better than you are acting. You are starting down the wrong road. Just remember who you are."

It wasn't until after the death of Mrs. Coolidge in 1957 that this story was allowed to come out. It was first published in the "Los Angeles Times." And most interesting of all is that the President's notes show that the young man was indeed better than he was acting. He repaid the $32 loan in full.

Kurt Hahn, the founder of Outward Bound, said this: "There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less."

Are you better than you are acting?

Dear Lord, help our actions be the right actions. Help us live our life in an honorable way. Help us look for the better way to live. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Will Your Faith Stand?

1 Peter 1:6-7 (New International Version)

6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

I have recently read the book by Jim Collins, "Good to Great", In it he interviewed Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest-ranking officer in the Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Admiral Stockdale was shot down in September 1965 and endured seven and half years of horrific imprisonment and torture. Regarding the prisoner of war camp, Collins asked Stockdale, "Who didn't make it out?"

"Oh, that's easy," answered Stockdale. "The optimists."

"The optimists? I don't understand," responded Collins.

"The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-which you can never afford to lose-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."

During the most difficult of times, optimism will be crushed. But our faith and trust in Christ is one that has overcome all that the world. 

Dear Lord we pray that we would hang on to You in all things. Help us remember that You are there leading and guiding us in all the things that come our way. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Does Your Faith Have Clothes On?

John 21:15 (New American Standard Bible)

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.”

It's one thing to goof. But it's another thing to do it in front of a stadium full of people! In their book OOPS (The Rutledge Press, 1981), authors Richard Smith and Edward Decter tell of such slip-ups. One occurred during a soccer match between two Brazilian teams. The first goal was scored within three seconds after kickoff. What made the score particularly hard for the team's fans to take was the fact that it was made while their goalie was still on one knee with head bowed in prayer.

There is certainly a time for prayer, but this poor man learned the hard way that there is also a time for action. In fact, both are necessary in a well-lived life. As Gandhi once said, "I have so much to accomplish today, I will have to meditate two hours instead of one."

Often, however, the best spirituality begins with the prayer of the heart, then moves to that prayer which is lived throughout the rest of the day.

Several years ago a bomb was detonated outside the huge oak doors of a Greek Catholic church in Jerusalem. The heavy doors were blown inward so that they careened up to the front of the sanctuary and destroyed the chancel area. Windows were blown out, pews were destroyed and the balcony collapsed.

Dr. Ken Bailey, a Presbyterian missionary scholar and friend of the priest of the Greek church, stopped by to assess the damage. It took little time to determine that the priest was in shock and unable to make necessary decisions. So Dr. Bailey took it upon himself to ask seminary administrators at the school where he taught to close classes and he invited students to join him in helping the priest. They cleaned the church and boarded the windows to prevent looting.

The next day, Bailey again called on his friend. The maid confided in him that the priest did not cry at the bomb's destruction. However, she added, "He did cry when you and your friends helped clean up the mess it made."

Dr. Bailey has since remarked, "I did not teach any theology that afternoon -- or did I?" If theology is about love in action, he held one of his best classes that day.

The truth is...faith is never so beautiful as when it has its working clothes on.

Dear Lord we pray today that we would put our faith in action and do the work that You have for us to do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.