A small, sweet word - LOVE

Romans 13:9-10 (NLT)
9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

If love is true and sincere, it will fulfill the commandments given by God.  Our duty to others and ourselves can be summed up in one word – LOVE. It is a short and sweet word that shows harmony with others and self; mercies to put aside fault; and grace to forgive. Loving and being loved is all the pleasure, joy, and happiness of an intelligent being.  God’s love for us is imprinted on our souls that we may love others as God loves us.

 

 

Tim Winton is Australia's most celebrated novelist today. Author of more than a dozen bestselling books and winner of numerous literary prizes, Winton resides on the coast of Western Australia, where he lives with his family. Winton was interviewed on the popular ABC television show Enough Rope with Andrew Denton. At one point, the conversation turned to Winton's well-known Christian faith.

"I want to talk about faith," said Denton. "When you were, I think, about five, a stranger came into your family and affected your family quite profoundly. Is that right?"

Tim Winton went on to tell Denton how his father, a policeman, had been in a terrible accident in the mid-1960s, knocked off his motorcycle by a drunk driver. After weeks in a coma he was allowed home. Winton said he remembers thinking, "He was like an earlier version of my father, a sort of augmented version of my father. He was sort of recognizable, but not really my dad, you know? Everything was busted up, and they put him in the chair, and, you know, 'Here's your dad.' And I was horrified."

Winton's father was a big man, and Mrs. Winton had great difficulty bathing him each day. There was nothing that Tim, five-years-old at the time, could do to help. News of the family's situation got out into the local community, and shortly afterward, Winton recalls, his mother got a knock at the door. "Oh, g'day. My name's Len," said a stranger to Mrs. Winton. "I heard your hubby's a bit [ill]. Anything I can do?"

Len Thomas was from the local church, Winton explained. This man had heard about the family's difficulties and wanted to help. "He just showed up," continued Winton, "and he used to carry my dad from bed and put him in the bath, and he used to bathe him, which in the 1960s in [Australia] in the suburbs was not the sort of thing you saw every day."

According to Winton, this simple act of kindness from a single Christian had a powerful effect: "It really touched me in that ... watching a grown man bother, for nothing, to show up and wash a sick man--you know, it really affected me." This "strangely sacrificial act," as he described it, was the doorway into the Christian faith for the entire Winton family. [John Dickson, "The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission", (Zondervan, 2010), 97-98]

Imagine the impact if everyone served and loved others in the way Len Thomas did. Len had a great impact on the lives of the Winston family. Our love and service to others could impact and change lives too. Share your love with someone by helping in ways you know how to help and love.