May 20
Scripture: 1 Cor 13:3
Source author: Francine Duckworth
May 20
I Gave! If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. —1 Corinthians 13:3
I gave up house and car, family and friends. I sacrificed my comfortable home in the States to live on the mission field with people whose culture was so different from my own. I gave clothes and shoes, money and food. I did without so they could have what they needed. “Do you love them?” Look what I have done, Lord. They eat in my home and use my telephone. “Do you love them?” Why, I pray with them and take them to ladies’ meetings. “Do you love them?” Before the day the Lord confronted me, I thought I was doing everything He wanted me to do. But now I got on my knees and asked the Lord to help me love them the way He loved them, and care for them the way He cared for them. He transformed my life that day. I chose to love. He gave me His love for these people. Twenty years later when I left, my friend said, “You may have palagi (a foreigner’s) skin, but you have a Samoan heart.”
Thank you, Lord.
God can help you love and not just give. — Francine Duckworth —