God's love moves us to truth and action - April 17
– April 17
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 20, 21:1-7(8-14); PM Psalm 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117
Dan. 3:19-30; 1 John 3:11-18; Luke 4:1-13
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another…Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. (1 John 3:16, 18)
Jesus taught us love through his actions of inclusion and self-sacrifice: “he laid down his life for us”. As a teacher leading by example, the writer of 1 John wrote to his readers that “we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” That sacrifice is a lived example of embodied truth in response to God’s great love…faith in action.
My friend Nadine is a person who exhibits a faith that jumps off a page and into action. She was a nurse for 45 years in Texas and retired. She was active in her church community. With her five children grown, her prayer life with God led her to a call to go deeper into ministry. Then her husband got sick. Really sick. His health was declining and there was no way she could commute to seminary, commit to schoolwork, and care for her dying spouse. After prayer, the signs were clear: her plans to start seminary were bumped down the road; God and her husband needed Nadine’s gifts elsewhere for a while. Fast-forward about seven years, on my first day of this big leap and life change, I met Nadine – who was also stepping (yet again) into this calling from God, with her heart brimming with love and loss.
Nadine lived out her love for Jesus and care for her classmates through her warmth and hospitality, hosting our class at her home in the greater Austin area on multiple occasions. She lived into God’s love as she drove to campus most weekdays for three years, with nearly a two-hour roundtrip commute. Nadine was committed to God’s call to minister to and inspire young women to live into Jesus’ love, achieving the goal of wholeness of spirit before getting distracted by the “golden statues” of temptation and idolatry that we hear about in Daniel 3. After completing a Master of Divinity degree, Nadine joined the ministry team at her Baptist church and continued helping educate young people, proclaiming God’s love and truth. Nadine has not stopped there. Three weeks ago, she earned a Doctor of Ministry degree, with a concentration on Biblical interpretation.
She will continue to proclaim the love of Jesus through lived example and encouraging spirit, attending to the needs of those who are vulnerable. A gift Nadine offers is her direct and honest insights, giving comfort and assurance to her audience. In a meditation booklet a few years ago, she wrote this:
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your heart quiet and at rest if you trust in Christ Jesus.
“Merciful God, as we wait for your answers to our prayers, let us continue to sing hymns and give you praise. Amen.”
I give thanks for God’s love in the world – and in the hearts of people like Nadine, who loves wholly, not just in word, but through truth and action.
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
When have you seen faith in action? How often do you see people loving through action, standing up for someone in need? When have you done this?
How might you take a stand to live into a more active faith life this week?
Daily Challenge
Think of someone you know who is hard to love. Think of someone you only know of who is hard to like or imagine loving. Sit in silence for three minutes, and breathe in slowly, imagining God’s love filling you. Pray about actions of God’s love and your compassion that these hard-to-love people might really need to experience this week. How is God calling you to respond?