1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
Love has a way of breaking down barriers…
Take Rick. A teenager from Michigan. Forced by his parents to attend church, he had little use for religion. Especially the kind that comes in the form of a visiting evangelist from the South. He didn’t like the preacher’s looks, his Southern accent, his style. But a funny thing happened on his road to dismissal. Love.
The preacher invited Rick to play basketball the next day. And the next. And the next. And the next. Basketball was Rick’s game; clearly not the preacher’s. It didn’t matter. His willingness to get into Rick’s world cracked all his misperceptions and prejudices. The love of God broke through and Rick embraced it. He’s still embracing it after 30 years (and as a pastor at that).
Take the Jewish reporter who was assigned to investigate a NYC mega church. Turns out in spite of all her skepticism and ideological opposition to the congregation’s position on moral issues, she couldn’t help but be touched by the authenticity of the pastor’s love. His concern for her soul awakened her own dormant longing for purpose, meaning and truth. Love does that.
I forget sometimes—maybe you do too—that we don’t have to have some kind of super-spiritual skill to lead a person to Christ. Don’t have to earn a theology degree. Don’t have to be called to the “mission field.” Don’t have to have an amazing testimony.
We just have to love….
That’s where we start. When we let the love of Jesus move through us…our habits, quirks, passions, gifts, flaws…we become bulldozers, earthmovers in every sense of the word. His love incarnate shakes the earth in people’s hearts and makes room for heaven.
“In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory,” writes Madelene L’Engle. Maybe it’s because the “unqualified” realize they have nothing to offer but what He gives them. And what He gives most supremely to accomplish his work is love.
So I’m asking God to help me love more. To bulldoze through some earth and leave a deposit of heaven. How about you? Want to be an earthmover?