hungry for Living Love
Thailand is 94.5% Buddhist, 4.3% Muslim, and 1% Christianity.
one of our first days in thailand we walked through a Buddhist temple to understand more of their religion and pray over the temple. that morning i happened to read Habbukuk 2 which says, “of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? or an image that teaches lies? for the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. woe to him who says to wood, ‘come to life!’ or to the lifeless stone, ‘wake up!’ can it give guidance? it is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. “
as we were in that temple, my heart felt as if it was breaking and my body was weak as i felt the dead nature of the place. so many people pouring their lives into something that doesn’t have Jesus as Savior to be the bridge to God. the people bowed before idols, laying the common offering of a string of beautiful flowers upon the golden statues. the monks hung about the temple with their devotion to their religion evident through their shaved heads and bright orange robes. we sat on our knees in the temple respectfully and just observed and prayed -with tears rolling down my and a few others’ cheeks. i was overwhelmed with the fact that these Thai people who we love so much are praying to an idol that isn’t living, that cannot speak guidance to them. I wanted them to know that Jesus has paid it all and we are able to have a free personal relationship with God!
it gave me an overwhelming sense of gratitude. gratitude for the truth, for the fact that the gospel is for all people, and for the opportunity to share it with these wonderful people. the truth is that the one true God is a LIVING God! Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6) and when we believe this, we are able to have a relationship with God and His Holy Spirit lives inside of us. with Jesus, you can feel a Love that is Living.
this week, we got the opportunity to teach an english camp in a school that our ministry hosts had never been to before. so we had the honor of being the door openers for what the Lord will do in this school in the future! it is a government run school for the lower class kids who mostly come from broken families. we had a short 6 hours to spend with a group of 4th through 6th graders. in that one day, we danced like fools, played like crazy, taught multiple english lessons, danced some more, and just simply Loved them.
and boy did they receive that Love! i capitalize the L in Love because it isn’t an ordinary love that we are loving them with. it’s that Living Love I was talking about – the love of Jesus Christ. they clung to our sides, attentive to our teaching, hand in hand during dance parties, and they cried when it was time to say goodbye…the kids cried! i have experienced many sad goodbyes after children’s ministry in foreign countries & my team has sobbed our own eyes out while the kids still giggle and hug us. but i’ve never seen a group of kids be so genuinely sad to say goodbye to friends they didn’t know 6 hours before. my team was in shock when this happened. it was very sweet they loved us, but we all wondered ‘why? there must be a reason they are really that sad to have us leave?’
and then it dawned on us. these kids come from all sorts of broken backgrounds and families who may or may not express love to them. these Thai people are the kindest and most hospitable people. but even if they do have a loving home, chances are actually less than 1% that they know of Jesus’s Living Love. they were so hungry for it and soaked it all in and when our day with them was over, they knew that this Love was something great and so real. and they wanted more!
“We love because He has first loved us” 1 John 4:19
Jesus is pursuing those children, seeking out every person’s heart in Thailand as they go to the temple, and currently always loving them in ways they may not see yet.
it is Jesus living inside of us that is what propels us to love them. because Jesus loves them. and our prayer and hope in being their teachers is that they will seek out this love and find Jesus. hopefully we were able to spark inside their hearts a tiny flame that desires the Love that is beyond imaginable. we were able to just start the process for the seeds of the gospel to be planted in their hearts. our hope is that one day they’ll come to know Jesus’s Love Living inside themselves <3
1 John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
as always, thank you all for your constant encouragement, love, support, and prayers!!!
