Month: January 2023

“…and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:19 (NAB)

I recently returned to doing the Ministry of Care, a volunteer ministry in the Chaplain department at the hospital where I work. Once a month I visit patients, serve communion and then say a prayer for them. It’s a volunteer ministry I did for many years but stopped it for the three years during Covid. Doing it again after three years felt good, and I quickly returned to the rhythm of going room to room. After serving communion to one elderly man I ended by saying the same prayer I always end with, which is one that I composed myself. There is a line at the end of the prayer in which I ask God to let the patient know that God loves him. I’ve found that after I say those words, people have tears in their eyes.  Even though the prayer also asks for healing, spiritual renewal and peace, there’s something about asking God to let somebody know that He loves them.
Today’s scripture says that knowing this truth surpasses all knowledge. We can do everything and go through almost anything, when we know that God loves us and is with us. To know the love of Christ surpasses knowledge, because it’s not a head knowledge that is academic and comes from books. It is a knowledge within our spirit and soul, that comes from earnestly seeking Him. “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Something within a person changes when they hear words praying for God to let them know that He loves them. Only He can let them know, and He does. It amazes me how those words resonate and touch hearts, but I believe it’s because God responds to two people agreeing in prayer. When a patient is sitting in a hospital room, they are God’s captive audience. All the distractions of life are set aside, and they are well prepared to hear from heaven. One older lady told me she used to be active in her church, but that she hasn’t even been to church for many years since she cannot drive anymore. Imagine how special it was to have someone pray for her in her hospital room. As I meditated on the faces of people I visited yesterday, and how those words in the prayer touch them, I started to wonder what their relationship with Jesus was like before being admitted to the hospital. It might have been the first time anyone has ever prayed for them out loud. I wonder if some people have even forgotten that there is a God who loves them at all. Some patients may feel that God must not love them enough, or they wouldn’t be hospitalized with a particular diagnosis. To hear the words, “Let them know that You love them,” is like turning a light on in a dark room. If I could only say a one sentence prayer over someone, that would be the prayer. God wants to reveal His love to those who are broken or crushed in spirit.

Whatever we go through or will go through in our future, we should include God in the picture, because He is always with us. He hopes to get someone’s attention especially while they are alone in a hospital room, but wherever we are, He desires to communicate the love of Christ to us and to say to all of us,  “I am right here, and I love you.”

“Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.”

1 John 3:18 (NAB)

Jesus reminded everyone to back their words up with deeds, because deeds really do count in the end. According to the many books based on the theory known as “Love languages,” everyone has their own language used to express and receive love. The theory of love languages is to help understand how we interpret the ways that love translates into deeds. It applies to all relationships, and is not limited to marriage. There are a total of five love languages, but each person has an inclination toward one or two. The books and seminars help determine which love language we most commonly use and identify with. The five love languages are:

Words of affirmation

Physical touch

Acts of service

Giving and receiving gifts

Spending quality time together

Jesus understands and relates to all the love languages. If you’ve ever been or currently are a caregiver for your loved one, you are expressing physical touch and acts of service every day. It’s a natural result of caregiving. Quality time and words of affirmation could be added by choice. I regret not giving more words of affirmation to my husband during the time of his illness. Taking care of a sick person requires so many acts of service, it’s easy to forget to give words of affirmation. At least he received quality time through all the visits from friends and family, which meant a lot, being the social person that he was. When I cared for my ninety two year old mother in the last year of her life, she loved music, so I played music from her era, which she enjoyed. One day I spontaneously started dancing to her music, and she just lit up with joy and clapped. That was a quality moment for her. It wasn’t about how I danced, but that she could see my joy. She used to worry that she was a burden to me, but seeing me dance made her feel loved through that quality moment. Deeds of love can be unconventional ones, and are more often spontaneous and not planned. Acts of service are expressions of love, which can be done for an elderly or lonely person. Physical touch can be a hug or just a touch on the shoulder, which relates to those who speak that love language. Giving a small gift is a token of kindness, love and friendship for others. For some people, words of affirmation are a treasure when spoken in the right moment. The two doctors I worked with came to my late husband’s wake, even though they never knew my husband. Just seeing them there meant everything to me, because I knew they were there for me. One other doctor who I worked with couldn’t make it to the wake, but he later showed up at my front door with a blueberry pie in his hands. He heard from someone that I liked blueberry pie, and it was his way of expressing his kindness by giving a token gift, and I will never forget it. Who knows what deeds of love we have already done for someone which will always be remembered with gratitude.
Every day is another opportunity to speak someone’s love language and offer a deed of love that resonates with them and will stay in their heart forever. Lord, give us the right language to show your love to someone in the way they can best receive it. Amen

“Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (RSV)

Without the transforming power of the cross, there can be no new creation. Our redemption comes by faith in the blood of His cross, but the renewal of our minds is a lifelong process. God loves us as we are, and yet He sees how much better we can become. While He is transforming us into the image of His Son, He uses everything that happens in our lives to make us the new creations we were meant to be. 

We may be asking Him to remove every unpleasant or confusing situation, but it is through these events that He transforms and renews us on our journey of faith. When we can say to Him, “Your will be done,” it’s another step toward letting God transform us into all that He has planned for us to be. 

Becoming new creations in Christ means having our minds renewed by the Holy Spirit. A renewed mind in Christ is more concerned with winning souls rather than arguments, but the most obvious characteristic of a renewed mind is developing shepherd like tendencies. If Jesus is our Chief shepherd, that makes us His mini shepherds, and there are shepherd urges deep within each of us. 

Shepherd like tendencies are to seek, lead and feed His lost sheep. If you find yourself praying for lost sheep, they were led into your pasture for just that reason. In making us new creations, God is turning all of us into mini shepherds. In my old nature, I would seek whatever is good for me, but as my mind becomes renewed by the Holy Spirit, the old ways start to fade away. 

Soon after I became a widow, I missed not having my husband to share the events of my day with. Although I regularly talked to God, I was thankful to have my long time friend of fifty years. I could pick up the phone anytime and share my thoughts with her, and always benefit from her wisdom and insight. Three years later, that friend was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was devastating, but I wanted to step up and be the friend she needed in that difficult time. In my mind, the most important thing was to be a good friend rather than to have good friends. I wanted to care for her in any way I could. 

Something changed within me and my way of thinking was being transformed. She passed away only three months after her initial diagnosis. Since then, I began to understand the mind of a mini shepherd and those tendencies that are deep within all of us as new creations in Christ. 

I recently learned that Mother Teresa cradled in her arms about 16,000 dying people in Calcutta over the span of her ministry. Someone once asked her how she converted so many dying people, who never heard of Jesus, and only knew the popular religions of India. She said that she asked each person who was dying in her arms, “Do you want to give your life to Christ ?” and they would ask her, “Who is Christ, is He like you?” Those she held in her arms never heard the gospel or read one verse of scripture, but they saw and felt the love of Jesus through her, and gladly received Him, dying peacefully in her arms. 

That’s the heart of a mini shepherd. There are lost souls, like lost sheep, who might be looking at us and asking, “Who is Christ? Is He like you?” We are all God’s mini shepherds, His voice, His eyes, His hands, and we are called to be His ambassadors on this earth until He returns. To become a new creation is to become more like Christ by the power of His Spirit working within us. 

Jesus, help us see people through your eyes, so that they can see You in us. Amen

“The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.”

Exodus 1:17 (NIV)

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Proverbs 9:10 (NIV)

Before hospitals existed, midwives were essential for all birthing mothers. The midwives in this story were strong faith filled women, who lived under the cruel, controlling domination of Pharaoh in Egypt. Pharaoh commanded the midwives to start killing every Hebrew male newborn, hoping to get control over the robust Hebrew population that was multiplying in their land. The midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, both outwardly agreed to Pharaoh’s new demand, but actually defied the ruling, and continued to deliver every baby and helping them live after birth. Asking a midwife to kill all male babies is like asking a fireman to burn down half a city. It goes against their purpose and calling in life. These midwives were women of courage, who feared God more than Pharaoh, and defied his ruling, putting their own lives at risk.

Life brings many hardships that can challenge our central purpose and calling. We face problems that put fear in us, making us feel we can no longer do what we are called to do. There are many things to fear these days, but if a fear of God comes first, as it did with Shiphrah and Puah, our purpose continues and souls will be saved in the end. A healthy fear of God means standing firm, even when no one else supports you.

I had a grandmother in Greece, who I never knew, who was my father’s mother. She gave birth to ten children and then was deserted by her husband. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she began offering her midwife services to the women in her nearby villages in Greece. She was able to support her ten children working as a midwife. Eventually, her oldest son, my father, emigrated to America as a teenager, afterward sending for his mother and siblings, who all settled here for the remainder of their lives.

What began as a very sad story, ended happily, and because of her courage, I am here today. The midwives in this story today were all strong, resilient people. They didn’t shrink back in fear of defeat when faced with a frightening situation. Through a healthy fear of God, they all persisted to do anything they could to keep others alive. Shiphrah and Puah, in their decision to save the male children, one day saved a baby boy named Moses, and he grew up to free all the people from slavery under Pharaoh. God gives us courage in our hard times, and if we follow through, we will fulfill our purpose and calling in life, saving many other souls as a result.  

When I first heard the story of my grandmother’s struggle, I wondered how she found the strength, but then I realized we each have the same courage deep within us. God is there all along, and will always help us through the many tribulations in a lifetime. Fearing God more than people is the beginning of wisdom, which leads to other virtues, and the courage needed to survive some of life’s most difficult tests.

Lord, help us to find the courage you have given us to overcome many obstacles, and make us a mentor and an inspiration of faith for all those who are watching us. Amen