MOTIVATED BY THE POWER OF LOVE

When Jesus and his disciples one time were leaving Jericho, there was a large crowd that was gathered and was following him. Among the crowd were two blind men who were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” They were persistent in getting the attention of Jesus. The crowd was bothered by it, but Jesus was not.

In fact, he called the blind men and asked: “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” they answered, “We want our sight.” And the Bible says in Matthew 20:34 “Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.” Jesus ministered to these blind men because of a sense of love and compassion. He was motivated by his sympathy for them including his desire to help them in their predicament. They were blind, yet they were seeking the Savior to give them sight. He gave them what they asked for because he was motivated by his love and compassion.
In the same manner, when we minister or share the gospel, we must be motivated by love not selfishness. We must show that we care for them. In fact, the power of love can motivate us to do great things for others. When we love, we are willing to make great sacrifices. When we love, we are willing to take the extra mile. We must be motivated by the power of love when we share the gospel: Love for God and love for others.

There was a story of a young man who has just departed from this world then went on to his heavenly reward. As he was going through the way to heaven, he was met by an angel to guide him. They came upon a place where people were seated around the banquet tables piled high with the best of food and drink. “I must have misunderstood,” thought the man. “Is this purgatory?” However, he noticed as he came closer, that the people were thin and seemed to be starving. Not a single person was eating. Everyone looked sad. “Why don’t they eat?” asked the young man. “Why are they so sad with all the food before them?”
“Look closely and you will see that each person has a special fork attached to one hand and a special spoon attached to the other. The handles are so long that it is impossible to get the ends of these utensils into one’s mouth. So even though they are surrounded by food, they suffer and starve,” explained the angel.

They continued their journey and came upon another place where people were seated around banquet tables again piled high with food and drink. However, as they drew closer, he could see that these people were both joyous and well fed. “Is this heaven?” asked the young man.
“Yes,” replied the angel. “As you can see, it is just like the other place which you called purgatory. The tables are the same. The food is the same. Even eating utensils are the same. The only difference is that, rather than starving, the people in heaven are well fed.”
“How is this so?” asked the young man.

The angel smiled. “Here in heaven, the people feed each other.” Did you hear that? The people feed each other. That is heaven. That is the power of love. That is what keeps us going for the ministry. That is what sustains us. That is what inspires us. That is what gives us passion. That is what motivates us to share the gospel. Unselfish love. We love because he first loved us.

And what is love?
It’s silence when your words would hurt.
It’s patience when your neighbor’s curt.
It’s deafness when the scandal flows.
It’s thoughtfulness for another’s woes.
It’s promptness when stern duty calls.
It’s courage when misfortune falls.

Love is important. We must love those that have never heard the gospel even if we dislike their actions. We must love them even if they do not speak our own language. We must love them even if they came from different country. For how can we share our light to them if we turn away from them? We must be motivated by the power of love and compassion that only God can give us.