Do it in love or not at all

“And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing…Now these three remain:  faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13:3,13 

There’s a small team from Calvary Baptist Church in Rosenberg, Texas who traveled to Haiti yesterday to share in the last few days of Pastor Nahum’s annual revival at his church.

Pastor Byron Williamson preaching at Gilbert Christian Church revival last night

They took basketballs, bibles, and gifts. 

But more importantly…

They are doing all of this and giving all of these gifts in love.  

I know this because you can’t fake love and when I talk to Pastor Nahum I can feel his joy.  It radiates from him and it’s the result of the love Calvary Baptist Church is extending to him, his orphans, and his village.   

Because here’s the thing:  you can give, and go, and plan, and do, and do, and do…but at the end of the day what our broken world is famished for is to be loved with real love.  If what we do lacks love then it’s meaningless and the ones within our reach will go through another day starved—starved for that touch of love.  Today I’m reminding myself and encouraging you to do whatever it is you do in the real love of Jesus Christ.  Do it all in His love.

Never underestimate the power of a gift offered in simple real love.  Because when it’s real, it’s wild…and this sort of wild love has the ability to reach down deep into the souls of the most vulnerable.  

It puts a smile on the faces of the helpless and brings hope to the hopeless and if you've ever felt helpless or hopeless then you know that’s no small thing.  Love changes everything.