| I thought I knew how to love but I found that I really didn’t. I was just giving my love to those who loved me back— to the clean children, the respectable folk, the well-behaved teenagers, the obedient ones; but I didn’t have any real feeling for the runny-nosed dirty child next door, or for the quarrelsome old man across the street who played his radio so maddingly loud. So God had to admonish me— and He did. He showed me to my shocked surprise that I was passing by on the other side, that I wasn’t really walking in His footsteps at all; because when Christ lived on our earth He ate with publicans, and sinners, He talked with the woman at the well, He humbly washed His disciple’s feet, |
and He loved sinners everywhere— the tax gatherers the prostitutes, the doubters, the hungry, the untouchables of His day, He loved them all. Through my tears I saw that I was not really following Him at all; and then I understood that if I wanted to be His disciple and bear His name, I must be willing to give up my selfish convenient little world and mingle with the lost ones— minister to their needs, heal their wounds, share their sorrows, and offer a cup of water in His name. I must love as Jesus loved; for unless I do, how are the lost and lonely ones around me going to believe that God loves them— if they cannot see His love in me? How, tell me, how are they ever going to know? ~Viola J. Berg |
- Hits: 1733
