1 Corinthians 13: 1-3
"If I could speak in any language in heaven or on Earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever."
The first and greatest commandment is to love Jesus. The second, which is equally important, is to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22) I’ve just completed the first month of my time here in Honduras. Our time here has been almost completely relational ministry- making friends with the people here and investing in them. At times I find myself wondering what difference it’s actually making. Sometimes I wish I could just change the hearts of people: give them motivation, take away their desire for drugs, etc. But like it says in 1 Corinthians, love conquers all. My job isn’t to change anyone or myself, even. My job is to love others and love Jesus. Jesus changes people. Jesus changes me. How freeing and relieving this is!
What if, instead of concentrating on the flaws of others, we simply love them instead? Spend time with them; show them that they have value? What encouraging thoughts for the start of my second month in Honduras! The next few weeks I’m going to focus on simply loving. It isn’t my job to change the world. Maybe just through radically loving someone else, they will see the radical and perfect love that Jesus has had for them from the beginning.
