The Pavement of Love

This week we are sharing an excerpt from Sharing Christ When You Feel You Can't by Daniel Owens (pages 118-120). Regular devotions, straight from the heart of Dan Owens, will resume next week.

Mother Teresa came to the United States several years ago to observe work with the poor in several cities. Afterwards at a news conference, reporters asked her, "What do you think of America?"

"There is a famine in the land," she said. "People are starving." A puzzled reporter spoke for most of his colleagues a when he said, "What do you mean people are starving?"

Mother Teresa responded, "People are not starving for food in America; they are starving for love."

I once asked a new Christian just a few months old in the Lord, "What is the biggest difference you've experienced in your life?" Without hesitation she said, "I've finally learned how to love. I never truly loved my husband before. I never knew how. I guess I only really loved myself. Now I love all sorts of people!"

Unselfish love is one of the best indications that a person has truly come to Christ. Believe me, there are plenty of people in the world who desperately need the love we can give when Jesus Christ is working in us.

Psychology Today reported that given one wish in live, most of us would wish to be loved. Few people I have known exemplify our desperate need for love and acceptance more than Bill.

Bill, fifteen years old, lived on the East Coast with his divorced father. His mother lived across the country in Washington state. One day Bill's father dropped a bombshell: "Bill, I don't want you to live with me any longer. I don't love you anymore. Here's a bus ticket -- go live with your mother."

Late one Friday afternoon, Bill arrived at the bus station in Bellingham, Washington. Digging his mother's phone number out of his pocket, he called her and begged her to come get him.

"Bill," she answered, "I don't know why your dad sent you out here, but I don't have time for you either. I don't know what you are going to do, but I can't take you." She wouldn't even come to the bus station to see him.

Someone at the station took notice of a boy crouched in a corner, crying, and learned about his predicament. Unfortunately, all social service offices were closed that late in the day, and there was no place for him to spend the weekend.

Someone suggested they call a youth camp near Bellingham to see if the people there would keep Bill until other arrangements could be made. The camp director agreed to take care of Bill that weekend -- the weekend I had been invited to speak at a youth rally. Bill was in the audience as I preached on the love of God that Friday night.

Without knowing anything about Bill, I said to the young people, "Your mother may have rejected you. Your father may have rejected you. Your friends may have rejected you. He loves you."

When I invited teens to come forward and receive Christ, Bill ran down the aisle, dropped to his knees in front of the platform and sobbed as if his heart would break. He finally had found Someone who loved and accepted him.

By the way, a Christian family adopted Bill, and he spent the rest of his teen years in a loving home. He has grown much in the Lord since then.

It isn't surprising that love is the first pavement we must lay to develop successful relationships, is it? Jesus was quoting the Old Testament Scriptures when He said that "Love your neighbor as yourself" was one of the two greatest commandments (Luke 10:27).

Loving people is not always easy, especially those who do not yet know Christ as their Savior. But that is where we need to remind ourselves of Christ's love for us and allow His love to move in us and through us to reach others.

With the Love of Christ,

Dan

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