John 15:13 Greater Love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends
My upmost for his highest the other day talked about this verse and said that it is easier to die than to lay down your life every day… Jesus gave up His glory for us once when he came to earth and a second time after the transfiguration. He chose to lay it down for us. This really got me thinking.
Jesus laid down his life and He chose to touch the unclean to heal them instead of just using His words. This shocked me. His touch doesn’t hold more power than His words, God Spoke the earth into being and Breathed life into man. He didn’t need to touch people to heal them and He often only used His words to perform miracles. But we all know how much it means when someone reaches out and touches you or pulls you in to hold you. It is such a simple thing but it makes you feel so truly loved. A lot of people say that words are cheap and actions matter more than words. Well God’s words hold the power of creation and life in them, but He knew the power of touch as well and He used it.
One of the offensive things you can do here in Africa is to greet someone without shaking their hand- without touching them. Waving hello and smiling at someone: super rude. It implies that you think they are unclean and dirty. It is seen as a conscious act to withhold physically acknowledging someone.
Just the simple act of intentionally touching someone can mean so much…
To the orphan- love or rejection
To the African- welcome or unclean
To the prostitute- worth or shame
To a baby- comfort or abandon
Studies have even shown that premature babies grow and recover better and more quickly in a hospital if someone just touches them for a few minutes every day
Jesus chose to touch us, not just interact with us. For strangers, He touched the blind and the deaf and their eyes were opened and their ears unstopped. For his friends He got down on His knees and washed their dirty feet. For His enemies, when they arrested Him and one got their ear cut off He reached out and touched the man’s face and restored his ear.
So I’ve been thinking about this, and I extend the challenge to you, how can we practically choose to lay our lives down? God knows that I am willing to die for Him or people, but to lay down my life, that is much more difficult. I am not saying we need to go out every day and pray for the sick and wash our friends dirty feet (shudder and puke, there are few things in this world that gross me out more than feet) but we do need to be more servant minded.
Heidi Baker talks a lot about how love looks like something. For the hungry it looks like food, for the orphan it looks like a hug, for the naked it looks like clothes. How can we practically love those around us better and lay our lives down for them every day?
Behold the father’s heart
Look straight into the eyes of furious love
And then look to the lost
Look straight into the eyes of shame
Without hope
I’m leaving everything else behind
To light the lost on fire with furious love
It’s worth it.
At our intro to Africa debrief our main contact Anesmis told us a story about a visit to America. He was being driven around the country by a friend and they got to a red light and of course they pulled to a stop. Well I say of course because I am an American and that is what we do when we get to red lights- we stop. But an African wouldn’t stop. In Africa if no one is around when you pull up to a red light- you just go. Actually, even if a bunch of people are around but you think you can make it through the intersection without dying, you go.
So he told his buddy to just go. But the driver said no, we can’t. So Anesmis asked him: you can’t go because you are afraid that you will get caught? Or you can’t go because you want to do the right thing? His friend replied, when I first started driving I wanted to jump all of the red lights and I didn’t because I didn’t want to get in trouble. But now after obeying the law for so long it has become a part of who I am and I don’t even consider jumping the light and breaking the law anymore.
He related this story to sin, and it was awesome,
Now, I relate it to love.
When I was younger I loved people because I was supposed to and no one would love me if I didn’t love them. But now? Now I want furious love to be a part of me. I don’t want to pause to weigh the cost and reward of loving someone. Love always costs something. Loving us cost Jesus His life! But He knew “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18).
So out here? Whenever we visit schools or see kids on the street I shake their hands and throw them in the air and spin them around and hug them- I don’t think about the bugs and diseases crawling from their skin to mine. We tell women in prostitution that they are of high worth and they are His Beloved. When we see hungry people on the street we give them whatever snacks we have on us even if we are not done eating them. When we meet people who aren’t Christians we share the Gospel with them, no matter how much they make fun of us and how stupid we feel.
The cost doesn’t matter. Love Furiously. Love tangibly. Love people. Love those close to you, love your enemies, love your kids, love your parents, love your neighbors, love the people in your class and your room and your sorority and your teams. Love intentionally. It is what Jesus gave His life for.
One of the super cute kids from Cambodia playing in the flies, dirt and probably his own poo.
MinJin from Cambodia. Adorable Huge Trouble-maker.
Some kids just don’t like white people, we’re scary, but we love them anyway.
Pastor Emmanuel’s 3 month old baby girl. Cute right? She puked on me 30 seconds later.
Sharing the Gospel and my testimony with a bunch of high school kids as they mock me and laugh at me
