“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1: 4-5
Praise the Lord for truth that is the Bible.
But I also have to say that walking in the city and finding people with deformities breaks my heart. It grieves my spirit to know that they aren’t physically whole. That no one may love them. That they have to beg for money. I have seen people with deformed feet, deformed faces….
Each time I want to stop and talk to them. To help give them hope. To let them know that a Savior loves them. I haven’t been able to yet because normally I’m in a large group and we are rushing to our next destination. That, mixed with not having the boldness to just talk to them.
But as I pass by, I pray that God will meet them. That they will know they are loved. And I try and at least smile at them with kindness. But it still breaks my heart.
But one thing I keep reminding myself is something a wise, American Christian woman told me as she who is currently serving with her family in India.
“Their poverty is not their greatest tragedy.”
Despite their poverty, their deformities–the greatest tragedy is that they don’t know the hope and peace that comes through knowing Jesus.
And with that, I have also gotten my heart grieved by seeing people in the greatest tragedy.
Here are two pictures of when we went to the Buddhist temple to pray over it.
It was definitely a magnificient sight. However, learning in school about Buddhism and then actually seeing people worship these statues… I have to tell you that this is two completely different things.
When we went, I saw an older woman bowing down to it. It grieved me to see it with my own eyes that someone does not have the hope we have in Christ. It grieved me that she didn’t know that a Savior loves her and will provide for her.
And frankly, some of the religions here are dark. That is simply the nature of the cultures we are in. Maybe the religions preach peace, yes. But, Satan loves the darkness and loves hiding from the lack of truth people know. He thrives in it.
There are people here that are children of God and meant to be the children of God; yet, there are lies, darkness, and fear.
And frankly, one of the saddest, scariest things I have encountered here are couple people who claim to be Christians, but they proclaim a gospel of fear and live in fear themselves.
Our God is not a god of fear. Satan may breed in the fear that the lack of truth the religions cultivate, but our God does not.
They know some of the truths of the Bible. But in stead of proclaiming the hope and love that we have in Jesus, they proclaim fear. The fear of going to hell, the fear of the conspiracies of the evil one and the world. And they live in the fear themselves.
But our God and our relationship with God is all about proclaiming light in darkness. For people to know truth–which can sometimes hurt, but in the long run we come to know the love of God. There is peace. Love. Acceptance. Nothing we do can chase the love of God away.
I am thankful to be in a relationship with a God who loves me. Forgives me. Is patient with me. Who walks WITH me in the darkness to the light. And as much as I am young and still learning all what this means, I am thankful to be able to have the opportunity to find true peace in Him.
So I urge you. Be people who do what 1 Corinthians 13:13 says “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” And don’t afraid to share it with others.
Here are some requests:
-Pray for the people who don’t know the truth–that they come to meet it face to face.
-Pray for my boldness in sharing the love of Jesus.
-Revel in the hope that we have in Jesus no matter what happens in our lives or in the world.
