Run toward the language of love
At the time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. —Acts 2:5-6
The devout Jews heard the roar of a mighty windstorm. What loud noise do you hear today?
Listen closely. Do you hear the loud noise of anger in our streets, or the near silent cries of those in need? Do you hear our local kids asking with little hope for good, safe places to gather and play? Do you hear our senior citizens wonder aloud if anyone still cares about them? Do you hear the teenage boy who has a pretty hard home life, or the woman with a mental illness even she doesn’t recognize?
What do you hear? Who do you hear?
The devout Jews came running when they heard a sound. God invites us to come running, too.
When we listen closely, we discover God provides ministries that enable us to come running to His church, the mecca He created and blessed for the distribution of His Father’s grace and His goods. These goods like food and funding enable His love to be known, tasted, and experienced.
Listen closely. You’ll discover God showing us ministries to help where few—if any—other care networks can.
In The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery, author David G. Benner suggests God is at the very core of yourself. He says the more you know yourself, the more you will know God. Likewise, the more you know God, the more you will know yourself.
Listen. Listen so closely from what is within. What loud noise do you hear in your heart? What ministry is God calling you into today, a ministry you cannot do alone but one where you need to depend completely on Him?
Come running. Come running with open arms to hold, hug, and help the hurting. Come running with arms full of supplies and other necessary items so that you get what those devout Jews experienced, which is their own languages being spoken by believers.
Luke, the author of Acts, is being literal here. In Acts 2, he tells us that these religious devotees hear their own spoken language, Hebrew, where other foreign language existed just moments earlier.
I’m being metaphorical when I say the language you hear when you minister to others is the language of love. What is the language of love? It’s the sigh of relief. It’s the almost inaudible gasp from someone you’ve helped so intimately that your closeness and care surprises and delights them deeply. The language of love is also the sound of laughter.
And sometimes, dear ministers who do come running, the language of love is no sound at all. It’s a tear down someone’s face, or the pure and beautiful silence in your heart, and in the heart of the one whose hand you are touching.
PRAYER: Lord of love, may I hear Your language today with those You’ve called me to run toward. Amen.
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