Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Love - Acting in the Best Interest of Another

It's been a quarter of a century since I sat in a religious education class at Southwestern Seminary, but I still remember something my professor, Rick Yount, said about love. He defined it as "acting in the best interest of another." This definition is emphasized again and again in Scripture, but one of my favorite passages is 1 John 3:16-18: 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

John reminds us that true love shows itself by our actions, and that we are to "act" toward others according to their needs and for their benefit, not out of our own convenience or self-preservation. Christ is, of course, our ultimate example of sacrifice for the benefit of another, but it is interesting that following this ultimate example, John gets VERY specific and VERY basic in how Christ's love manifests itself in us every day as we respond to human need.

Two of our most urgent physical needs on an international level have to be the earthquake victims of China and the cyclone victims of Myanmar. Here is the link (for my fellow Baptists..or anyone for that matter) to our International Mission Board's global response efforts to which you can donate:

http://www.baptistglobalresponse.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=39

Earthquake survivors are seen here in tents among the rubble of collapsed houses in Shuimo, in Wenchuan county in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Sunday, May 18, 2008. A friend sent me this link for helping the earthquake victims (and especially the children) of China. This charity is based in SC by the way. The link:
http://www.christianworldfoundation.org/cwf.htm


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