As I sit here in Africa surrounded by absolute destitute and deprivation I am overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the crisis at hand. Children starving. Mothers selling their bodies to make enough money to buy enough food for her children to eat one meal a day. Fathers abandoning the responsibility of their children because of the financial burden they cause. Even still, in the midst of what appears to be the most unlivable and unbelievable conditions imaginable there is joy. There is much sorrow and fear, but there is joy in abundance because Jesus is doing a work here in the hearts of these people.
As I reread the story of Lazarus and many more of Jesus' miracles this morning I was aware of something I never had been before....Lazarus eventually died again even after he was resurrected. The people who's bellies were satisfied by the five loafs of bread and two fish were eventually hungry again. In the strangest way this brings me so much comfort. I don't have to solve world hunger, irradicate disease, or make sure every orphan has a mommy and daddy who loves them. I would love to see all those things happen, but that's for Jesus to do, not me. I can only love them like Jesus does and would of he was walking among them. See, nothing here on this earth is eternal, so while Jesus' miracles are miraculous and worthy of praise I think there is more to be taken from them than the tangible resurrection of a dead man or the satisfied hunger of thousands. Jesus loved. He loved so deeply that when in accordance with His will miracles happened, but only because He loved. His love enters into the dark and broken places. His love doesn't run from messy, but rather, meets you right where you are in the middle of your mess. Because HE IS LOVE. Love isn't something He does- It's who He is. So even though Lazarus eventually died and those thousands of bellies grumbled again, they were still ETERNALLY transformed by the intentional and personal acts of sacrificial love they encountered through the person of Jesus. The same can be said of my time here in Africa. My prayer is that despite the fact that bellies will commence their grumbling and children will continue to be abused and abandoned that through my love SOMEONE would come to a saving knowledge and understanding of their Creator's love for them. Even if only one seed is planted or only one person comes to know the Jesus as their Lord and Savior than it is all worth it, every single bit of it. I pray that through my love they would see and understand His love- and like Lazarus, his family, and the thousands who were fed that day, they would be eternally changed by a personal encounter with the love of Christ.
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