Persevering Love

"Love Never Gives Up" - 1 Corinthians 13:8

"I have a friend who has toured around the world, witnessing to his Christian faith. One day, during a visit to a poor Third World country, he had a day off from the ministry with which he was involved and he visited a leper colony. As he was talking with some of the people there who were afflicted with this dread disease, he met one particular man who had a vital, glowing love for Jesus Christ. The two of them began to visit together.

The leper said to my friend, ‘You know, I didn’t always have this joy, this love of God in my heart. When I first came to this place I was the most angry and bitter man here. But there was one man from the village nearby who came out every day to visit me. Every single day he came out and brought me food, and at first I threw it back in his face. He’d come out and offer to spend time with me, but I shouted at him to leave me alone. He wanted to talk to me, but I would have nothing to say to him. Still, he kept coming to visit me, day after day after day.

Finally, I could do nothing else but ask him, ‘Why? Why do you keep coming to see me, to love me, when all I ever show you is bitterness and hatred?’

And he told me, ‘It’s because of the love of Jesus Christ.’

Then my friend asked the leper, ‘How long did your friend from the village come to see you before you gave your heart to Christ?’

The leper’s answer: ‘He came every day for thirteen years."

Does our Christian faith really mean anything? Do we have integrity, and do we have the truth in us when we say we love others? Do we honor the name of Jesus Christ, the name we bear upon ourselves whenever we call ourselves ‘Christian,’ by keeping his commandments and following his example Are we going to talk about love, or are we going to live it? Are we willing to pay the price, to lay down our lives, and become a fellowship of 3 a.m. Christians? Are we willing to stand by hurting people for as long as it takes?

My prayer is that you will realize that one of the most beautiful gifts you can ever give to another human being--and to Jesus Himself--is the gift of your own life, committed to the sacrifice of self, willing to stand by."

- Selected