If You Love Others You Will Be...

OPEN-HANDED

While spending time in a Zulu village in South Africa which was full of bright,  beautiful, hurting orphans who had lost their parents to HIV/AIDS I became acutely aware of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25. I was on the lower bunk late one night reading my Bible and Rob Smith the founder of the Agathos Foundation was on the top. Jesus said if we help the hungry, provide water for the thirsty and look after the needs of the “least of these” we will be invited into the joy of God’s kingdom by Jesus himself. However, it hit me in the face like a brick when I read that if we don’t care for the “least of these” we will not be among the “blessed” who are invited into God’s kingdom (Matthew 25:31-46). I asked Rob if I could read it to him and he, like me, said I never really noticed that before. We both concluded that all we had to do to miss the Kingdom was—to do nothing.  When I walked out of my room the next morning and ate breakfast with the orphan’s tears filled my eyes. I knew that the six thousand kids who are being orphaned every week in Africa by the AIDS was my crisis because I was a Christ-follower.  In other words, Jesus made it crystal clear that he expects us to show our love for others by being open-handed.

All around us there are people who are marginalized, hurting and have a desperate need to know someone cares. You are the open-hands of Jesus and he wants to show his love to them through you. He wants you to use the resources he has put at your disposable to change the world.

Rob Smith, the guy at the beginning in the top bunk, never thought he would be running a foundation to help the orphans of Africa but he is. He left South Africa to come to the U.S.A. at seventeen years of age. He became a successful building contractor and life was sweet but, he gave it all up, scaled down his life-style and became open-handed. Now there is a village full of smiling orphans being loved and cared for because Rob decided he wanted to be the hands of Jesus showing orphans God’s love. 

Loving others means being open-handed.