“Let us love with deeds and in truth,” so said the Apostle John when writing in the first century to followers of Jesus. (1 John 3:18) His words speak to the heart of a problem that has recently come into sharper focus for me here. That problem is the human intendancy to "talk a lot" about how we love others but actually to do very little true acts of love. I realize that this is a problem in my own life, and it appears to be a present deficiency in large number of professing followers of Christ today.
The idea that we can love merely in words is indeed a persistent problem. It came into clearer view for me a few weeks ago when a visitor to our global campus here in Korea made a presentation to students and faculty on the international crimes of human trafficking. Our visitor's stated purpose for her presentation was "to raise awareness" about this tragic reality in our world. She presented an extremely informative lecture with heart-rending photographs of victims of sexual slavery and forced labor. It was a very moving presentation.
During the Q & A session, one very perceptive student asked our visitor what she had done to help free a victim of trafficking. The presenter's reply was quite telling. She acknowledged that there were organizations on the front lines that are engaged in direct efforts to free victims and prosecute the perpetrators of these human rights violations, but that was not something she did.
Instead, she believed her role was to raise awareness about the problem because "she was gifted at talking and making presentations." She also recounted a story about a group of high school students to whom she had given a similar presentation. Following the presentation, the students raised a significant amount of money to send to one of the organizations that is working against human trafficking.
There is no doubt that "raising awareness" as well as "raising funding" are important dimensions in the success of any endeavor to address pressing human needs in the world. But the Handong student who first raised the question of what a person can "do" was not satisfied with the presenter's response. She knew that there must be something more.
Is there a willingness on my part to consider whether "awareness" of a need should lead us to ask the more important question: "What can I do?" And am I willing to consider whether the answer to the question of "doing" is not resolved by merely giving money or joining in the effort to "raise awareness" even further?
Are we willing to allow for the possibility . . . opening ourselves to a readiness . . . to actually take action by going and being with those whom we are so ready to talk about? Will we consider and seek God's grace to obey the command to "bear the burdens" of others?
Will we begin to move beyond merely "loving" with our words and by talking about the needs of others? Will we begin to love others with deeds that cost us more than a few dollars contributed to a cause? Will we begin to love in truth by going to, being with and bearing the burdens of others?
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