The Greatest of These Is Love

by Cheryl Hollar
(Franklinton, NC USA)

The Lord commands us to show His Love to a world starving for it. I was never more reminded of this than a couple of Sundays ago when my pastor talked about the boy who shared his lunch with the crowd of 5000 men. He simply brought what he had to God – and God multiplied it. He talked about how that little boy probably went home and said, “Look what Jesus did for me!”

I was reminded over the next week of several circumstances where people – especially children – could say the same as we share God’s love with the world – because love truly is meeting each other’s needs – where they are (which is, of course, one of the concepts in Dr. Henry Blackaby’s “Experiencing God” study). This month, I want to share three wonderful examples of how to show love.

I remember in years past reading a testimony from a woman whose only duty in her ministry was to hold, to rock, to love newborns and other babies with Aids – to simply and literally love them until they died. She told the story of a baby who died in her arms as she was rocking him.

I never forgot that story and how heart-wrenching it would be – how it truly touched my heart. I don’t remember where this story took place, but it was not America. However, in my research on the subject for this article, I was surprised that missions of this type do exist in this country as well.

One such ministry is Caring for Babies with Aids, and it’s near Los Angeles. The children here range from newborn to 6 years, and the goal is to ultimately re-unite the families or find homes for the children.

From what I understand, these children do not actually have the Aids virus, but are HIV positive. The volunteers and workers do their best to make this a home away from home – they do it all – they “become” parents to these children - they potty train, provide the children with toys, playgrounds, and even a wall mural donated by Disney! The volunteers sometimes even have baby showers in their homes as a way of accepting donations of diapers and other necessities.

I also read about a place called Beautiful Gate – for babies and children, newborn to 4, abandoned in Lesotho – sometimes literally “thrown away.” This is actually a residential/hospice care for babies that do have Aids – and it may be the one I remember reading about. It was begun by a missionary and her husband and is named for the story in Acts 3:1-10.

Sometimes the children at Beautiful Gate return home, sometimes they are adopted, sometimes they die.

To me, both of these places offer a “sanctuary” of sorts – a place for safety, stability, and love.

Another small instance that shows big love is demonstrated in a wonderful project called Operation Christmas Child, of which I am sure everyone is aware.

This past year, and a couple of years prior, my church has participated in this Franklin Graham ministry. This year, as we got our shoeboxes together and filled them with small items – soap, toothbrushes, a small Bible or New Testament, a doll or other toy – we were reminded by our pastor that, to us, this may just be a shoebox with small somewhat “insignificant” items, but it will be everything to a child that has nothing – think of that, everything. It is a small act, but an act of love – another small opportunity to show the Love of God.

I want to share one more story from a testimony at my church. One day, a man went to a hamburger “pit-stop” called Checkers for his lunch break. As he was waiting for his order, he noticed a man not far away, next to the street. He was sitting on the ground, his feet resting in the ditch in front of him. He looked quite dirty, sad, and homeless.

When the first man got his hamburger, he went to the other man, sat down beside him, and shared his lunch. He didn’t offer him money. He didn’t ask any questions. He just quietly shared his lunch. When they were done, he reached out, helped the man up – and told him the story of Jesus.

He does not know what ultimately happened to that man, but he took one small opportunity to share the Love of God and to emphasize that the God of Love one day literally drew him “out of the ditch” as well.

We are all on the mission field for God. I remember once reading a sign as I was visiting a church. As I left the parking lot, the sign simply read, “You are entering the mission field.” At my church, we also have a sign out front. It reads, “Come to worship, leave to serve.”

Blackaby also says in “Experiencing God” that we are to find out where God is working and join Him there. I only hope I can show love in some small way as the special people in this article have shown their love as true servants of God.

Now abideth these three – faith, hope, and love – but the greatest of these is love (I Corinthians 13:13).