A few months ago, my friend and I went to go feed the hungry and homeless downtown at a place called "Church Under Bridge". We had gone there before, but this specific time I decided we should make sandwiches. I emailed our friend who works there saying "I love cooking in mass quantities! Can I make 200 sandwiches!?" I've seen it done quickly at the normal place I helped at every weekend and figured it would go by quickly...boy was I wrong. My friend Colin came over that day early in the morning and we didn't finish until after 4pm! We had so much fun making them and it was so worth it. When we got there, we had more than enough. It happened to be a slow night, because it was the beginning of the month, so every person took a few to save for later. Even after that we still had some left. So we drove around the streets outside the facility looking for more homeless who might want something to eat. Some people have dogs and carts and don't come get food because they worry they will be taken if they don't guard them. So we spotted a few people under a dark bridge, so of course Colin being Colin, immediately hopped the curb and drove straight to them. We rolled down the windows and He asked the men if they wanted some sandwiches. They came over quickly and took them telling us thank you and praise God. What struck me the most was one man who looked quite old, with very dark skin, and barely spoken English. When we pulled up and gave him the sandwiches, he paused looked right at us and pointed up to the heavens and I remember hearing Jesus come from his lips, and we nodded in agreeance. He then whipped out a harmonica from his pocket and began to play what sounded like amazing grace on his harmonica followed by another slow and beautiful song. It was so beautiful, and it felt like time stood still in that moment. What made the most impact was that they knew we were doing what we were doing because of the Love of Jesus. That is the goal. Not to do good deeds and do kind things for our own glory, but to radiate Jesus in those things that GOD gets glory not ourselves.
I hope that in all that I do, people bypass me and just see God and HIS love for them. We are just the vessels, the carriers of the Love. We are His body going out into the world loving people. That is such a privilege and honor.
A week or so ago our pastor spoke on "Why do you do what you do? Who gets the glory? You or God?" This message was simple and wonderful and is such a great reminder of checking our reasons of why we do anything and everything. I hope that in all things I do, God is the one who is being glorified and not myself, and my reasons are for His purposes, not my own. If we do things for our own glory, it's worthless. If our lives are motivated by making Jesus' love known and the love of God through His son and by being the the body of Christ, then it's worth everything. Jesus is worth our whole lives and all of our dedication.
Someone I admire a lot is my Chiropractor. He is undeniably a Christian man, and glorifies God. He posts verses on his sign outside for people driving by, has Christian music playing inside, has prayed for our family, and most importantly shows how much he cares. He always makes my whole family laugh (we laugh at just about everything so maybe that's given), and asks questions that make me think. He most definitely glorifies God and it's evident by his love in the way he interacts with his patients.
We can glorify God in the big and the small. Sometimes people ask themselves if they can glorify God doing a menial job, task or situation, and they doubt they can. I have asked myself that, and the Lord has shown me that the answer is Yes. Always. There is no menial task in God's purposeful eyes. We ask ourselves if we can glorify God in a situation, but maybe we should be asking the question in a different way..."Can I show love in this situation?" ..When we love, we radiate Him..because God is Love itself. Our answer will be yes.
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
A man Spoke at a Graduation ceremony recently and his speech went Viral. It's about being kind to others and ultimately loving one another. I saw an interview with him on the news this morning. The following words are bits and pieces of his speech that I pulled out the parts I especially liked and a few words I got from his interview today...
"Kindness, it turns out, is hard.. – We get our butts kicked by real life, and people come to our defense, and help us, and we learn that we’re not separate, and don’t want to be. We see people near and dear to us dropping away, and are gradually convinced that maybe we too will drop away. ..And so, a prediction, and my heartfelt wish for you: as you get older, your self will diminish and you will grow in love. YOU will gradually be replaced by LOVE… Still, accomplishment is unreliable. “Succeeding,” whatever that might mean to you, is hard, and the need to do so constantly renews itself (success is like a mountain that keeps growing ahead of you as you hike it), and there’s the very real danger that “succeeding” will take up your whole life, while the big questions go untended...Since, according to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now. There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there’s also a cure. So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf – seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life. …Do all the other things, the ambitious things – but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness. Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial. [(my own paraphrasing>Don’t betray the best part of yourself, the part that loves, forgives, protects, defends and offers this selfless kindness to others.] That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality – your soul, if you will – is as bright and shining as any that has ever been. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, and share its fruits tirelessly. And at the end of your life, I hope you will say: It has been so wonderful."
Love
Han.
