This month I was able to visit a family who lives in Guyana, South America. We stayed in their home, ate meals together, walked home in the rain after visiting other friends, and spent many hours in their boat on the river. I watched them give hearty handshakes, exchange smiles, hold little scared hands. I watched them give rides, give encouragement, and give hope.
I watched them love.
You see — they’ve been living in a remote part of Guyana for almost five years now, ministering to the needs of the people in areas only reachable by small plane or boat. They assist in medical emergencies, bring supplies and gifts, and sometimes simply bring instruments and sing about God’s love. They are missionaries telling isolated people groups about Jesus, but even more often — showing people Jesus, just by loving.
It’s love with hands and feet.
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 The Message
Sometimes I’m tempted to wonder why I’m here on this planet. Sometimes I don’t know how to best make use of this life I’ve been given. Sometimes I feel like a waste of dust and life-giving breath.
I’ve gone through stages of desperate grasping for perfection, trying to please God, trying to be good enough. I’ve been discouraged, giving up all methods of attaining salvation. I’ve definitely cried out to God for peace, for purpose, to feel His love.
And He takes all that anxiety and self-focusedness and anguished desire and tells me this:
“Child, I love you. I want you to live like that. I want your life to be incredible proof of my love for you.”
It’s what I saw in Guyana. It’s how I want to live.
so let my life be the proof
the proof of Your love
This song, by For King and Country speaks it plain. “No matter what we say, no matter what we believe, no matter what we do, we’re bankrupt without love.”
Let my life be the proof, Lord. Fill my heart with your incredible love and live through me. Amen.