“All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.” Ah, yes: The Beatles. Always count on the Beatles for the deep insights of life. Well, maybe not all the time but in aspect of love being the most important thing, they actually got it right. Paul says in I Corinthians 13:13, “Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love.” I have been spending a lot of time in I Corinthians 13 lately. I’ve been challenged that a true Christian walks in the light and seeks to live fully in the truth. As I have prayed about what that really means, God has been showing me that love is the center piece for all of that. After all, doesn’t Jesus say, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ the entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40) Love can be hard though. Really hard. Look at just some of the adjectives that Paul uses to describe it: patient, not proud, not self seeking. Wow. I need God to help me.
Sometimes it is hard to love here in Africa even though that is the very reason I came – as an ambassador of God’s love. But when it’s a million degrees out, a child poops on me – twice, we aren’t given enough time for the Bible study we worked so hard to plan, someone else is on my bed, it’s impossible to find a quiet place to be in our house, every Swazi man tries to merry me just so he can get to America… Well, you get the picture. It is hard to pour out some days.
Lately I have been concerned that I have been getting burned out. I just don’t know if I can pour out anymore love. I feel completely dry. Sometimes I think if I could just have a few more comforts from home I would be able to cope and pour out more. Just give me a few smoothies, a room of my own, or at least a fan and I would be good to go. Sometimes I think that if I could just communicate with people from home a little more often then I could love better. A quick conversation with my pastor, get advise from my parents, or just spill to my best friend and then I could do it. The list could go on. That’s when I found Jeremiah 2:13 which says, “My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me- the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” Reading this passage was a huge wake up call. I realized that I was trying to be refilled from cisterns that hold no water at all. All the ways I was trying to recharge were good gifts but what I needed was to drink from the Fountain of Living Water. I need to learn how to love from God who is love. (I John 4:16)
I had to ask for forgiveness and then seek to change my actions. Since then I have been doing my best, with the help of the Lord, to drink from the Lord. To allow the joy of the Lord to be my strength. I realize that I cannot love without him. The result? Well, I realize why Jesus promised a helper – we need him. Trying to love without God is like trying to run a marathon in the dessert with no water. But with God, there is joy and peace. It is still a challenge and a struggle some days but there is hope with his help.
Thank you, as always, for your prayers and support. I love getting so many comments from my readers. Thank you. Please pray for my team as we are traveling to South Africa on Thrusday for a prayer reteat until Monday. I am really looking forward to this time to press in close to God and be recharged. Thank you and God bless.
