During the first day of Month 3, my team sat down on a cement bench wrapped around a circular table top after arriving to Kedesh Santuario in Chamba, Mozambique.
What all we discussed, I honestly don’t remember, but as we soaked in our new surroundings, Jace challenged us.
“This month I think we should define what love means to each of us,” he said. “And at the end of the month, we’ll share our definitions.”
We accepted the challenge and began exploring our new home.
Kedesh is a special place. I call it a little slice of paradise – because to me, it truly is. Each month, my team tries to make wherever it is we’re living our home. We call it home and we treat it like home but honestly, it doesn’t always feel like home. Regardless, we’ve decided home isn’t where we choose it to be, but wherever God sends us. We’ve found home in Him and have all been on individual journeys of what it looks like for each of us.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to try hard to make Kedesh home – it already felt like it.
Feeling at home allowed me to walk through the community as if it really was. I visited markets, bought oranges and coconuts, ate green mangos and a fried fish eye and met some incredible people.
If you are at all aware of my friendship with Orlando, I want to let you know the money to replace his roof was raised! What an incredible testament to trusting God for his complete provision.
In spending time with Orlando and his sons Gabriel and Delso, I discovered the definition Jace had asked us to explore.
Love, to me, is self-sacrifice.
Mother Teresa, one of the most incredible women to ever live, once said,
“Love, to be real, must cost — it must hurt — it must empty us of self.”
I came on the Race to share the love of Christ but I began questioning what His love actually looks like.
Ephesians 5:1-2 say, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Christ loved us so much He gave himself up as a sacrifice for us. A selfless sacrifice.
I want to love in the same way. I want to give all of myself — all of my wants, my needs, my comforts, my finances to others so they experience the love of Christ. I want to give until it hurts, until I have to live without so someone else can live with.
For many years, I’ve searched for this. I’ve searched for the meaning of love and what it means to love like Jesus.
It wasn’t until I was willing to give every dollar in my bank account to replace Orlando’s roof God showed me what I was looking for.
“I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.” – Mother Teresa
What’s your definition of love? Are you loving like Jesus? I encourage you to seek out those answers, be real with yourself and choose to grow in His love.
