DRESSED FOR THE WEDDING

"Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous." 1 John 3:7.

As I'm thinking of my wedding today, I've been reading about a story that Jesus once told. It was a royal wedding and guests from far and near had been invited. Everyone was dressed for the occasion--the bride and the groom were in their new wedding clothes. All their attendants were dressed beautifully. But so were the invited guests. As they entered the king's palace for the festive occasion, they were given a wedding robe to put on. Coming from the king, it must have been an elegant garment. 

When we accept Jesus into our lives, He gives us a wedding garment as well. The Bible calls it a robe of righteousness. "For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10). "By the wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless character which Christ’s true followers will possess. To the church it is given “that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,” “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Revelation 19:8; Ephesians 5:27. The fine linen, says the Scripture, “is the righteousness of saints.” Revelation 19:8. It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 310).

Jesus clothes us with His spotless life. The merits of His righteousness stands in place of our own. Our sins are washed away. And our righteousness, which is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), is replaced with the royal robe. This beautiful garment has no human threads; it is all from Jesus. For only the robe that Christ provides can make it possible for us to stand, washed and clean, before the presence of our Father's glory with unspeakable joy (Jude 24). 

But this robe is more than just a robe of cleansing. It is the robe that all will wear who have experienced the life-changing miracle of the new birth. For when we put on this robe, we are really putting on Christ. His character has become our own. "Old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17. That is certainly true when you are married, and when we are born again, we are married to Jesus, the greatest Love you can ever know!

So what does it mean to put on Christ? (For as Paul says, "As many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Galatians 3:27). Putting on Jesus means receiving His righteousness. We receive His righteousness because we are forgiven and cleansed. But at the same time, we experience new life through Him. And this life empowers us to live like Jesus--to be as loyal to the Father as Christ was to God.

I love how it is explained in my book on Christ's parables, "When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then as the Lord looks upon us He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 311).

What a beautiful picture of conversion! This is what the new birth is all about! And like my marriage to my sweetheart, it's not merely a one day event. Love is meant to be experienced every single day. The commitment, once made, on the wedding day, should be lived out in our lives "from this day forward." So, in a sense, the wedding garment must never be taken off. It is a testimony that we continue to be in love with Jesus, filled with His Spirit, and overflowing with faithfulness to God. It is only as we demonstrate love that love can flourish in our lives. For as John the beloved says, "He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous." 1 John 3:7. 

Our righteousness is only experienced through the presence of Jesus in our lives. And it's also defined by the righteousness we see in His life. I might make the mistake of saying, "This is the right way to go or the right way to live." But that would be holding onto my own righteousness, like the man in the parable who refused to put on the King's wedding garment. But true righteousness is seen only through the life of my Lord and Savior.

The Father also gives me His robe of righteousness so that He's not the only one who will see the character of Jesus in place of my rags. He wants the whole world to know that I belong to Jesus and He belongs to me. And as I follow Jesus, obeying His word and walking as He walked (1 John 2:6), everyone will know that I have been to the wedding with Jesus. And I am His chosen bride. He is my Beloved and I am His!

PREPARE NOW

"Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps" (Matthew 25:1-4).

Have you ever thought a wedding could be a big surprise? There's usually quite a bit of planning when you or your child is getting married. But in the days of Christ, they didn't have set times for weddings. A special day was chosen by the bride and groom's family but not the precise time. When the wedding day arrived, the groom would leave his father's house and, in a torch-lit procession, head off to get his bride. But she never knew exactly when he'd be knocking at her door. That must have been such an exciting day! To know you were getting married, but not knowing exactly when. 

Jesus used the events surrounding a Jewish wedding to help us prepare for His soon return. "Therefore you also be ready," He said, "for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Matthew 24:44 Like the Jewish bride, we don't know the exact time for our Lord's arrival. It's going to be a surprise, for Jesus said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." Matthew 24:36 

And yet, Jesus says He's coming soon. At least 5 times in the book of Revelation, Jesus announced His coming. He says it's closer than we think. In fact, the very last words of Christ in the Bible say, "Surely, I am coming quickly." Revelation 22:20  Don't you long for the day when quickly will become now? When you will see Jesus with your own eyes coming in the clouds of heaven? How I long for that day! And like the bride in Christ's parable, I want to be ready, so no matter when my Savior comes, I'll be able to say, "Behold, this is my God. I have waited for Him, and He will save me." Isaiah 25:9, personalized 

I want to be one of the wise virgins in this kingdom parable. They were waiting for Jesus with lamps trimmed and burning. And along with their lamps, they carried a vessel of oil. They were eager for this great day but they were also ready. A wise virgin makes advance preparation for the coming of the Bridegroom. For she doesn't want anything to stop her from joining the wedding.

What kind of preparations do wise virgins make? First of all, they're eagerly waiting for the Bridegroom to come. They have heard the good news and they want to be part of the wedding. His coming is their Blessed Hope, the focus of their entire life. 

The next thing they do is carry a lamp. Wedding processions from the bride's to the groom's home normally happened at night. That's why wise virgins brought a lamp along. It was a Bible lamp, for the Psalmist says, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105  

A wise virgin understands the Bible. She knows that God provides signs to alert the world that His coming is almost at the door. Matthew 24:36 Perhaps she's aware of the promise in Matthew 24:14 that "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." She's looking for the signs of His coming, such as an increase in wars and rumors of wars or the rise of false Christ's or false prophets. Knowing her Bible fans the flame of her faith, so she continues to shine with undimmed light in this dark and sinful world.

The 3rd thing a wise virgin does is keep a fresh supply of oil on hand. The lamps used in Bible weddings were not the small clay lamps often used at home. They were really torches, probably sticks with oiled rags. The oil kept the torch burning and needed to be replenished from time to time. The oil in a virgin's lamp is the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is the fire that burns in her heart and shines out through her life. As Jeremiah once said, "His word was in my heart, like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not." Jeremiah 20:9  

The Holy Spirit is often associated with oil in the Scriptures. Anointing oil is connected with the outpouring of the Spirit upon a king, a priest, or even Christ Himself. When Jesus announced His ministry as the Messiah, He declared, "The Spirit of the Lord  is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor." Luke 4:18  Acts 10:38 also reveals another use of this symbolism--"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." In Zechariah 4:6, the angel Gabriel explains to the priest the working of God's Spirit. Zechariah saw the golden lampstand from the sanctuary in a heavenly vision. The lampstand had a golden bowl on top of it; the stand also had 7 lamps with 7 pipes that led to each lamp. Beside the lampstand were 2 olive trees.

"From the two olive trees the golden oil was emptied through the golden pipes into the bowl of the candlestick, and then into the golden lamps that gave light to the sanctuary. So from the holy ones that stand in God's presence His Spirit is imparted to the human instrumentalities who are consecrated to His service. The mission of the two anointed ones [the olive trees] is to communicate to God's people that heavenly grace which alone can make His word a lamp to the feet and a light to the path" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 407). It is "not by might, nor by power" that we shine for Jesus. It's by the Spirit of the Lord as He speaks to us through the Scriptures.

And yet, a wise virgin has more than just an understanding of the Bible (wonderful though that may be). God's Word permeates her entire life just as the oil permeates the torch she holds in her hand. Her lamp is more than just knowing facts about God. It represents what the Spirit is doing in her life.  The Pharisees in Christ's day had an astounding knowledge of God's Word. And yet, they refused to accept Jesus as the promised Messiah and eventually plotted his death.

But the wise virgins have an experience in the word of God. It has become the light of their life because they've chosen to live what they know and believe. They have made room for the Holy Spirit and welcomed His presence by receiving and applying His word to their life.  "Through the Holy Spirit, God's word is a light as it becomes a transforming power in the life of the receiver. By implanting in their hearts the principles of His word, the Holy Spirit develops in men the attributes of God" (God's Amazing Grace, pg. 214).

This is an astounding truth and the heart of the gospel message. For the gospel of Christ "is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also for the Greek." Romans 1:16  God's Word is a creative and re-creative power when we surrender our lives to Christ. The same power that Jesus used in creating this planet is in His Word. Every verse, every page has the life of God within in. And if we'll open our hearts to receive it--just as it reads--Christ will transform our sinful heart and make it the temple of His Spirit. We may walk in newness of life, filled with all the fullness of God, and shining with the glory of our Father's love and holiness. 

A wise virgin can shine in the night as she waits for the Bridegroom because she's allowed Jesus to have full control. She's saturated her mind with His living word and it's changed her from the inside out. His character has become her own.  The same love and righteousness seen in Jesus is glowing in the light of the wise virgin. His oil is streaming through her life.

Now if the oil only stood for a knowledge of the Scriptures, the wise virgins could easily have shared their oil with the foolish virgins who brought no oil with them. You see, during the night, all the virgins fell asleep as they waited for the bridegroom. But at midnight, a cry was heard, "Behold, the Bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet Him!" Matthew 25:6  Quickly, the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps to join the procession. But the foolish ones, who brought no oil with them, have no light to shine. They pled with the wise virgins, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." Matthew 25:8  

But the wise virgins couldn't share what they had because it wasn't knowledge that the foolish ones were lacking. They were missing an experience with God! They had an outward form of godliness, but sadly, no real power. God's grace was missing, and we can't lend that to someone else. We can't pass on the formation of a righteous character to someone who hasn't known the Lord. The Bible says, "Even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it [living in the same place where we live], they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness." Ezekiel 14:20, RSV
"In spiritual things no man can make up for another man's deficiency...character is not transferable. No man can believe for another. No man can impart to another the character which is the fruit of the Spirit's working" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 411).

If I want to be a wise virgin when Jesus comes in the clouds of glory, then I must prepare now. I can't expect to be ready if my lamp is empty when I see Him coming. I must have more than a superficial work going on in my life. I must hold communion with Jesus all through the day, learning how to trust Him with every facet of my being. I must put myself daily into the hands of His Spirit, allowing Him to break up my old nature and be formed into a new creation that lives for Christ and Christ alone.

Jesus is waiting to pour the riches of His presence into our lives. We can be a living torch for Christ as we soak in His Word each day and give our wills to Him, moment by moment. Lord, keep our hearts soft and our ears open so we may hear the slightest whisper of Your Spirit and do exactly what You tell us. May the glory of Your love be seen in all we do. Let our light shine with who You are and what we are in You!

INSPIRE A GENERATION

"Do you not know that in a race all runners compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it!" (1 Corinthians 9:24, NRS)

In 2012, the official motto for the summer Olympics was "Inspire a Generation."  If you could flash back to last summer, you might see a single runner carrying the Olympic torch. But you'd really see scores of athletes doing the same thing--Passing on the torch to those of us watching, inspiring another generation to go for the gold or push themselves farther than they ever thought possible. It's like passing on a legacy of heroism, courage, and excellence--all rolled into one.

One of those inspiring athletes was Michael Phelps. If anyone's life could pass on a legacy, it was Michael. At the age of 27, he'd won more Olympic medals than any other athlete in history--22 of them all together and 18 of them gold! He was so good that he inspired a young boy called Chad le Clos to get into the game. 

When Chad was only 12, he saw 19-year-old Phelps win 6 gold medals in swimming. And he decided right then and there that he was going to become the greatest swimmer in all the world. He watched every race that Phelps ever swam over and over again. He posted pictures of his hero all over his room. Keeping his goal and his hero  in mind, le Clos worked his way to the summer Olympics of 2012. And not only that, he would race against Phelps in the 200-meter butterfly! As le Clos stood on the edge of the pool, his one thought was, "I want to make Michael proud!" And believe it or not, he certainly did.

Michael Phelps has always wanted to make a difference in the sport of swimming. When he was just 15, he told his coach he wanted to compete: not for the gold medals, the world records, or the thunder of applause. Instead he wanted to motivate young people to follow their dreams. So when Chad le Clos told Michael how his life had touched his own, Phelps got all misty-eyed as he thought about his legacy. 

One athlete touching another doesn't quite equate to inspiring a whole generation. But the more Michael Phelps we have in this world, the more impact there will be. For example, if you could influence just 1 person to follow Jesus this year, then there would be 2 of you following Jesus. And if you and your friend now influenced 1 more person the next year, then there would be 4. In the 3rd year there would be 8, in the 4th year 16, in the 5th year 32! And if you could keep this momentum going, with each person influencing only 1 person per year, at the end of 10 years, you would see over 500 people following Jesus as the result of your witness!

And that's only looking at your impact! Just think of what could happen if everyone in your church did the same thing! It's easy to see that an explosion could happen if we'd all be inspired to bring someone to Christ and inspire them to do the same. 

The math can be quite exciting when you think about making disciples for Jesus! But inspiring a single generation isn't merely about the numbers. That's only one kind of growth. The ultimate growth is what happens on the inside. Because if we want to pass on a true legacy, life has to be created and duplicated. And then it must never stop! Because even if we could fill up the pews in our churches so there's standing room only, we could still miss out on the revolution that Jesus wants to ignite.  Without an inner revolution in the heart, there's no momentum for passing on the torch. There's nothing to compel us to share the gospel. And even greater than that, there's no salt to make others thirsty for Jesus!

We need transformation in your life and mine to make the gospel revolution happen. Because Peter's life was changed, 3000 were converted in a day. Because Paul's life was changed, the gospel was carried round the world. In fact, when Paul came to Thessalonica, the Jews stirred up such a revolt that they dragged Jason and some other men to court with the allegation: 

"These who have turned the world upside down have come here too!" (Acts 17:6) 

That was what the enemies of Jesus saw in the Christians of the 1st century. They  turned the world upside down for God! "By the cooperation of the divine Spirit, the apostles did a work that shook the world. To every nation the gospel was carried in a single generation" (Acts of the Apostles, pg. 593).

How could so few impact so many? It's not because one man influenced only one person a year! It's because each disciple of Christ was filled with the power of the Spirit. And by that Spirit, they were transformed so their lives testified to the truth of the gospel.  Their walk matched their talk. And this was what made their witness so contagious, so explosive that they changed the world in a single generation. They were on fire with the truth as it is in Jesus. But that truth was lived out in their lives every day--consistently and victoriously. And people took notice "that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). If they had been put on trial--as many of them were--there was ample evidence to prove that Jesus was alive and well in every department of their lives. 

Like Phelps and le Clos, the disciples pressed toward the goal ahead of them. And if we could interview them today, they would say, "I want to grab a hold of Jesus for the same reason He grabbed hold of me" (see Philippians 3:12). They were shooting for the same goal that Jesus was shooting for when He walked the dusty roads of Galilee. Now Christ's goal took Him to the cross, but Calvary wasn't the finish line. For in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed:

"I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:4, italics supplied). 

What was that work? Jesus spoke these words before He ever went to the cross. So He couldn't have been talking about that. No, for in verse 6, we catch a glimmer of the goal Jesus was headed for. He prayed, "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word." 

Christ's mission was two-fold:
#1--Demonstrate to all the world who the Father really is.
#2--Pass on a legacy to the men He was training to take up His work. 

Jesus revealed the Father and we are to do the same. That is why our Savior prayed, "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21). The duplication of Jesus in every disciple is the reason for the cross. By His saving act, Christ made it possible for us to be reconciled to the Father and for His character to be seen in our lives.

 The work of salvation means more than just forgiving our sins; "it means taking away our sins and filling the vacuum with the graces of the Holy Spirit. It means divine illumination, rejoicing in God. It means a heart emptied of self, and blessed with the abiding presence of Christ" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 419). And when that happens, when Christ is formed within and truth possesses our hearts, "The glory, the fullness, the completeness of the gospel plan is fulfilled in the life" (ibid). It's fulfilled because the character of Jesus is created and duplicated in you and me. And that's the greatest testimony that Jesus is real and that He came into this world. He is the Son of God and the Savior of men. He is who He said He was and the proof is unequivocally testified through the lives of His disciples. Even if your neighbors never crack open the Bible and read the life-changing story of Jesus, they should be able to read it in your life. 

Because here's the bottom line--A Christian is like Christ. And that's the goal we're shooting for. Paul said it so powerfully, "Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Colossians 1:28). For this goal, Paul pressed on, straining every muscle of faith, that he might achieve this goal in every disciple that he made for Jesus Christ. "For this [goal]" he says, "I toil and struggle with all the energy that He powerfully inspires within me" (Colossians 1:29, NRS). Through Paul, Jesus inspired a whole generation! He inspired Paul. And Paul's goal was reached when he saw a mature or perfect duplication of Jesus in every one of His disciples. 

It wasn't an easy goal to shoot for. It's much higher than inspiring young people to shoot for their dreams or achieve notoriety by surpassing a world record. But God still wants us to take that Olympic motto and use it for Jesus. He needs you and me to inspire a generation for Christ. He needs us to forget those things which are behind us and reach forward to all that lies before us, to "press toward the goal of the prize of the Upward Call in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13,14). 

That Upward Call means to live for Jesus  every day--consistently and victoriously. And it means to live like Jesus every day--consistently and victoriously. And yes, we will strive higher than those around us. For it's an Upward Call! Christians aren't merely forgiven, they are revived and recreated to be like Jesus. Christ isn't merely our Savior. He is the great Restorer. And if we put our lives into His hands, He will restore His image in  us.

"Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness--Godlikeness--is the goal to be reached" (Education, pg. 18). "Therefore...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1,2). 

DO YOU CARE?

"And the king will say to them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of My family, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40).

I live in the country but quite close to the city. I have to drive to town to shop and go to church. And as soon as I get there, I feel the difference. In the city, I feel lost. I feel like a  speck among thousands of specks, unnoticed by the crowds that pass by. Before I lived on the edge of a big city, I came from a tiny town up north, where people looked you in the eye, said hello, or stopped you in the street to talk awhile. They still do that in the town where I live. 

If your car broke down at the side of the road, a man would always stop and help you out. I'm sure I never waited for more than 5 minutes. I felt like I was part of a community. People knew me. I knew them. And we were neighbors. But I don't feel that in the city. I feel like people look right through me and ignore who I am. Why are we so afraid to come close to one another?

My Dad  has been caring for my mother for several years. Because of a stroke, she suffers from severe dementia. She has forgotten who we are, even though she knows she had children. She has become a little child in her mind, carrying dolls and speaking gibberish. My Dad and Mom are housebound because of her dementia. They can't go to church anymore. The only outing my father has is when he goes to buy groceries. My oldest sister lives nearby and visits them faithfully. But otherwise, they have very few visitors. My Dad feels abandoned by his church because no one calls. No one visits them. He feels utterly alone. He recently told me how it felt. He said, "I know what it's like to be a leper in Bible times." He knows how lonely they must have been. 

People like my Dad are like the man who was robbed on his way to Jericho. He "fell among thieves , who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead" (Luke 10:30). He lay there on the side of the road, unnoticed or neglected. He wasn't hidden from view. People saw him there. A priest and a Levite passed by. They saw what needed to be done but they didn't want to get involved. So they "passed by on the other side" (Luke 10:31). It sounds like they went out of their way to do nothing.

But then the Samaritan saw him. And his heart was touched by the suffering he saw. He came close to the bleeding man and had compassion for him. That compassion was more than a feeling. It was something he did. The Bible says, "he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him" (Luke 10:34). I have spent a lot of time thinking about that Samaritan and the Living Way. And I keep coming back to those words, "he went to him." 

I tend to think that this Samaritan had somewhere to go. Perhaps, he was a businessman with appointments to keep in Jericho or Jerusalem. He probably had a family who was waiting for him to come home. But the Samaritan stopped. He went to where this wounded man was lying in a pool of blood and he did everything he could to help him. He went to him. 

Too often we wait for people to come to us before we lift a finger. We're so afraid to take the first step towards them. We rarely venture out of our comfort zones to talk with our neighbors, to knock on a door, or even say hello to someone new at church. We pass by on the other side like the priest or the Levite when Jesus needs us to go to him or go to her. We become robbers too, because we rob them of the compassion they need to be healed. We rob them by withholding God's love.

But not the Samaritan. Even though he didn't understand everything about God, he knew Him. For the kindness and compassion in the Samaritan came from the heart of God. Our Savior shows the same kind of love for you and me. "When we were bruised and dying He had pity on us. He did not pass by on the other side, and leave us, helpless and hopeless, to perish. He did not remain in His holy, happy home, where He was beloved by all the heavenly host. He beheld our sore need, He undertook our case, and identified His interests with those of humanity. He died to save His enemies. He prayed for His murderers. Pointing to His own example, He says to His followers, "These things I command you, that ye love one another," "as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 15:17, 13:34" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 382). 

Do we show such tenderness to the suffering all around us? Have we forgotten what Jesus has done for us? Or have we experienced His compassion ourselves? I can't imagine that the man who was rescued by the good Samaritan had anything but love and gratefulness pouring through his heart. I can't imagine that if he saw someone in the same condition that he'd been in that he'd pass by to the other side. When we've been touched by God's love or by His tender care, we are so full of that love that we pass it on. We see in every man and woman--and even every boy and girl--a picture of our Lord Jesus. A child for whom He died. A child like us who needs to be touched. To be touched personally by the love of God! 

This story speaks to our need to reach out to the lost, to people who don't know the Living Way to Christ. But it embraces even more. It means reaching out to the broken ones in our families or  churches. There are many who are bleeding at the side of the road who need compassionate care. Yes, they need your prayers, but even more, they need to hear from your lips that you're praying for them! They need someone to stop by and visit.  Can you take time to listen to their hurting heart? Can you show by the tone of your voice or the touch of your hand that you care? Truly care? That you're not just speaking words you don't really mean?

What was missing in the heart of the priest and Levite that they couldn't show compassion? Why couldn't they stop long enough to help this man in his suffering? What made the difference between them and the giving Samaritan? It's not such a tough question to answer if you look at the way these 3 men responded. Only one demonstrated love in action. The priest and the Levite might have known more about God than the Samaritan, but I think he was the only one who knew God! 

For "whatever the profession, no man has pure love to God unless he has unselfish love for his brother. But we can never come into possession of this spirit by trying to love others. What is needed is the love of Christ in the heart. When self is merged in Christ, love springs forth spontaneously. The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within" (Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 385). 

The inner work of grace is what's lacking. We can't give love with no strings attached unless we know God. Our hearts are just naturally selfish. We put ourselves first before anyone else. We care more about being saved  and going to heaven than someone else being saved. We want to be forgiven. We want God to answer our prayers.  But that's all about me, isn't it? And it will always be about me unless the love of God is planted in my heart and I am supernaturally changed by His love. 

You see, God's love will make me like Jesus. His character will become mine. The same love Christ had will be the love that I have. The same kindness that Jesus showed--even to lepers and Samaritans--will be the kindness I show, especially toward those who are suffering. The character of Jesus will be reproduced in how I reach out to those who need God.  And it will be as  natural for me to help the needy and suffering as it was for Jesus who went about doing good. He will open my eyes to see who is bleeding on the side of the road. And I'll go to him or I'll go to her with the same compassion that Jesus shows to me. 

And then they'll see Jesus. They'll feel the touch of His hand. This world is crying for the lack of that personal touch. But we can be the ones who will hear their cry and wipe away their tears. We can be the ones to cross the road and lift the burden from their weary shoulders. If we know the love of God, we can be the one to pass it on. It's so much better than passing by on the other side. 

Cross over the road, my friend. 

Ask the Lord His strength to lend. 

His compassion has no end. 

Cross over the road.