Sacrificial Love
Peter’s Vision and Purpose — The Church: My husband, Ron, and I spent 6 hours in a men’s prison one Saturday doing Ministry at Hoffman Hall and sharing the Gospel with 300 men. We brought food and celebrated them as they graduated from a six-week Bible study that my husband had taught on Friday evenings. It was an awesome day of testimonies and fellowship. When we got home Saturday evening, we had what we now call post-traumatic ministry event exhaustion. We were so tired. The next morning was Sunday, and we decided to sleep in and not go to church. We were all snuggled up on the couch, getting ready to watch our church on TV in the comfort of our own home, and my phone rang. It was Lacey (name changed for privacy). Lacey was a full-fledged heroin addict. Her voicemail said she wanted a ride to church right now. I didn’t pick up the phone because I was enjoying cuddle time. “Beep, beep, beep” as I received text messages from her, again begging for us to pick her up for church.
Can I be honest? This call from Lacey was inconvenient for me, and I didn’t want to pick up my phone. So, I had a choice. Ignore the call and stay under my warm blanket, or get up, get dressed, and drive to downtown Wilmington to pick her up for church.
We did the right thing that Sunday, but it was not easy. The kind of love Jesus wants us to learn doesn’t always feel good, and we can find ourselves fighting it!
Has there ever been a time when you knew you were supposed to do something and you did it right away? Have there been times when you chose to roll over and do what you wanted? These are choices. Joshua 24:15 says, “Choose for yourselves this day Whom you will serve.” You can do what you want to do, or you can do what the Lord wants you to do. We do have a choice as to Who will plan and run our days.
Love that Fulfills the Law:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37-40 ESV
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
Did you realize that by loving God and others, you obey all Ten Commandments? The first four commandments are how we show our love to God: loyalty, worship, reverence, and honor. The last six of the Ten Commandments are how we show our love to others: honor, respect, purity, integrity, truth, and contentment.
Jesus says that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Love God and love people. You are obeying all the Ten Commandments if you do these two things.
I googled how many people will die in the world today, and the total was staggering. 170,000 to 174,000 people die worldwide every day. That’s about 7,000 – 7,300 an hour. In the next 12 months, 63 million people will pass into eternity.
Matthew 25:31-46 is the Lord’s word on the final judgement. What kind of love is in you? Make changes in your life to get the Gospel to those crying out to Jesus for help all over the world. Be the Light!
PRAYER
Give us the desire in our hearts to make the difficult choices to love others above our own comforts. Amen.
Pam Clarke is the retired Founder of Enduring Faith Ministries, Inc., a nonprofit organization that helped transition men and women inside and outside of prisons through the teaching of God’s Word. This ministry took her and her husband, Ron, into prisons in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland for approximately 12 years.
Pan is currently President and Owner of PGC Practice Management, Inc., a 31-year-old Delaware Corporation that manages mental health practices and provides medical billing and bookkeeping services to a number of doctors' offices in Delaware.
Her favorite thing is being a wife to Ron for 42 years, a Mom to Doug and Michelle, and a Grandmom to eight beautiful grandchildren, with a ninth on the way.
Are there other women in your life who could benefit from a daily dose of encouragement? Forward this email so they can click on this link to Subscribe to Daily Treasure to be better equipped to walk by faith on the pathway God has marked out for them.
Sharon W. Betters is a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, pastor’s wife, and cofounder of MARKINC Ministries, where she is the Director of Resource Development. Sharon is the author of several books, including Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures in Darkness, and co-author with Susan Hunt of Aging with Grace. She is the co-host of the Help & Hope podcast and writes Daily Treasure, an online devotional.
Contact Sharon with comments or questions at dailytreasure@markinc.org.