The Simplicity of Love

It’s mind-boggling how often I complicate the gospel.  I’m sure
you could probably say that the same is true for your life.  I mean,
honestly, we start talking about theology, the Holy Spirit, baptisms,
and whatever else you could think of and we forget the most simple
command that Jesus gave us: Love God, Love others. 

 

Why does it have to get more complicated than that?  Sure,
everything else is additional and should be used toward fulfilling this
edict, but instead, I allow them cloud or take over what was meant to
be something so pure and simple.  This month, I’ve been blessed with an
opportunity that I will never take for granted.  I’ve seen and
witnessed love expressing itself through actions toward God and people
in a very real and tangible way through one person…Caroline.

 

Since
we made the decision to travel together this month, God has allowed us
the chance to see each other in a ministry setting that we hadn’t
witnessed before.  I already shared the story from Montenegro, but I’d
like to share another one from Albania.  Caroline and I headed  to a
cafe downtown to discuss some things about our squad.  As we were
walking, she was talking about what she was currently learning.  She
said, “Jesus’ ministry was very simple. 
He shared the gospel and he prayed for the sick.  Why aren’t we doing
that?”  Good point, Caroline.  Why isn’t that a daily thing?  Why do we
complicate it and why is it so difficult for us to tell someone GOOD NEWS or just to PRAY FOR SOMEONE?  Why is our focus shifted to other things instead of fulfilling the few things that God has asked us to do?  Why?

 

So we continued walking.  As we made our way to the city center of
Tirana, to our right was a man begging on the street.  This was not
just any ordinary man.  He was a man beaten down by life.  He was a man
ignored by the crowds of people that swarmed by him everyday.  This man
had no arms.  He had a sign hung around his neck.  He was filthy and
unclean in all senses of the words.  To everyone else, he appeared less
than a man…less than a human being.

 

We passed by, as any other normal person would.  The irony is that
we had just finished our previous conversation.  You know, the one
about loving God, loving others, sharing the gospel, praying for the
sick?  Huh.  We made it no further than twenty paces when Caroline said,

“I’ll be right back.”

 

The next thing I saw was Jesus.  It was love in action.  It was compassion. 
It was the one thing that God has asked us to do.  I stood from a
distance and watched as Caroline approached this man.  She did not see
the filth.  She was not put off by the fact that he had no arms or that
he was begging.  Instead, she knelt down with the biggest smile on her
face, pulled a banana from her backpack, unpeeled it, and fed this
hungry man.  It was one of the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever seen. 
He smiled from ear to ear as he was nourished.  He was so thankful. 
That day, he met Jesus, perhaps not for the first time, but he
encountered the love of God through the actions of Caroline.  

Now Caroline didn’t tell me that she did this, but I imagine that she probably spoke something over his life to the effect of:

 

You
are loved and cherished.  God sees you and has a plan for you.  There
is a Father who is crazy about you.  You are a man who is redeemed. 
Your price has been paid by Jesus.