When Did You Last Display Love In Action?

Nothing impedes a person's ability to change more than the idea that nothing can improve your present situation, and that your social strata is scripted by destiny. Nothing brings hope to the poor except realizing God is the great change agent who invites the poor to well-being and deliverance.

"Why is it that we keep giving dimes without daring to look into the face of the beggar?" asks Henri Nouwen

There is poverty all around us – in the First World as well as in the Third World.

There is poverty of spirit, of relationship, of community. There is spiritual poverty where worship and prayer have become absent from people’s lives. There are the permanently unemployed, the disabled, the alcoholic, and the drug addict.

But the question is: Are all of these living in poverty just strangers to us? Have we ever shared a cup of coffee or a meal? Offered true companionship? Stopped long enough to sit with them and hear their heart cry?

There must come a time when “companionship” becomes the call to integrity. It means we clasp the beggars hand, break bread together, and join one another in the journey toward wholeness. (Charles Ringma)

“If 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 Cor. 13:3 Message).

Everywhere there are opportunities and challenges to love, to care, to give. “The poor you will always have with you” (Matthew 26:11). Have you become blind to the needs?

As Mother Teresa said, “The needs are always greater than our ability to meet them.” Her work in Calcutta was among the poorest of the poor, including lepers and abandoned children. Throughout India, the needs defy counting. The challenges are staggering.

Love in action gives us the opportunity to help and bless others. This often opens the way for sharing the good news of the gospel. “The deeds of the gospel make way for the words of the gospel.” – Charles Ringma

And isn’t this our Calling: the call to care for, proclaim good news to, and advocate on behalf of those who are needy. “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:16).

Reflection: Giving opens us to mysterious graces because it brings us in touch with the heart of God. – Charles Ringma

Are You Measuring Up to Your Calling?

How often have we felt like praying Jeremiah's prayer: "I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle" (Jeremiah 10:23-24 NLT).

Hudson Taylor gave us a wise perspective on life when he said: "I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked God if I might help Him. I ended up by asking him to do His work through me."

If we run the race set before us, engaging in duties God-appointed and not self-chosen, and bestowing all our energies, and that cheerfully, on the God-appointed tasks and sorrows, then may we rest in full assurance that our strength shall never fail, that our fruit shall remain, that our life shall, though apparently fragmentary, be complete, that we shall reach the end, and be counted faithful in that day. -- Adolph Saphir

This summer I was able to sit under the teaching of my favorite author at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This humble man of God's writings have impacted every part of my life--he practices what he preaches. He believes that "what I do and achieve cannot be the core of what I am. While God calls me to partnership with Him in changing the world, He first of all loves me for who I am. In fact, He loves me in all my vulnerability and need. ... I am an amazingly loved person by the God of all grace and mercy, and as such I can confidently live to fully please God in all that I do." -- Charles Ringma (Resist the Powers with Jacques Ellus)

Ringma goes on to remind us, "while we may celebrate the work of our hands as God's gift, we should never depend on it. For it is God alone who sustains us and He ought to be the focus of our adoration."