I am so sorry I have been in Malaysia for over a week and haven’t even shared anything about Ethiopia!! There is sooo much I could say but I want to share just one encounter I had sharing the gospel in Ethiopia. I want to share this experience because of what God revealed to me afterward.
In Addis Ababa, the capitol, I met a woman named Rosa, who sold coffee on the side of the street. She had the best coffee in the area! One day I went out to go to a cafe but as I walked by Rosa invited me to sit with her on the street and enjoy a cup of coffee. I wanted to say no, but felt in my spirit that I was supposed to. So I did. I asked her about herself and her family. She had no family in the area, few friends, a ‘boyfriend’ in America, and an ex-boyfriend who had her child in a different part of the country. She wanted a better live, a more stable job, and friends.
In Ethiopia, most people consider themselves Christian Orthodox but what we discovered was that the Christian Orthodox in the area were very strict and legalistic. The religion was mainly about doing good works in order to get to heaven, there wasn’t a lot of love, grace, or relationship with God as Father. There is even heavy persecution to the evangelical/protestant Christian believers. We heard stories of Orthodox trying to stone a man who was preaching about the love of Jesus openly in the market place.
Rosa, like most Ethiopians, considered herself an Orthodox. She knew all the right answers to say when I asked about who Jesus was to her. I started to tell her about the love of God and that Jesus wanted to be in a relationship with her and to let her know that she is loved by him. This was a new gospel than she was used to hearing. I could see it in her eyes that this hit a different part of her heart. She had not heard this before. I could also see in her eyes the desire to be loved and wanted.
Later that month, it suddenly hit me that Rosa didn’t understand love. She hadn’t experienced it before, even on a human/earthly scale, and was unable to fully understand the phrase, ‘God loves you’ how I desired her to understand it. Those who had claimed to ‘love’ her had left her, hurt her, and in the end didn’t choose love. I thought how many many people across the world also have never experienced love. There are so many people out there that do not have a loving family or good caring friends.
This realization reminded me how much we need to love each other. For loving each other is a small reflection of God’s love for us. Our human love will be imperfect, yes, but at least it is a reflection and an doorway into understanding the immense love God has for us. But if we don’t even have that small human love as an example of God’s love, how can we begin to understand God’s love for us?!
As I sat thinking about this, I saw the need for a movement of truly loving and caring for one another! The greatest commandment Jesus left us, was ‘love the Lord your God’. The second greatest commandment was, ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22 paraphrased). The greatest commandments were given before the great commission, ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28 paraphrased). I reflected on how these were really given in proper order.
Too often we focus on making disciples instead of on loving God and loving our neighbors. We need to love God, know God, and seek to be like Him. And then as we seek Him, we are able to love others through His love. That will then give the reflection of God’s love in order for people to understand and see God’s love for them, thus making disciples unto Jesus. Without knowing God and without loving people it can be very hard to make disciples. BUT if our focus is on God and we are loving people well then that reflection to God is so clear and strong, making disciples come naturally as an outflow of God’s love andHoly Spirit working in and through us.
(This is NOT Rosa! haha but Rosa does the same coffee ceremony on the side of the road.) This is the beautiful Natafaru who worked with the missionary couple we worked with in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
