We can only love the souls of others when we know the Lord ourselves. Whatever we do for others, whether it be providing a big need or something small as listening to them, we are really doing it for the Lord. It is His power at work in us, to even give us the desire to reach out and touch others with His love. But in our reaching out to others we must never get so busy that we neglect the feeding of our own souls. As we read the Word, our own souls are fed and thereby we are given the strength to no longer live for ourselves but to live for Him. II Cor. 3:15) It is also helpful to pray the scriptures for certain verses will penetrate our hearts and also silence our own thoughts to think His thoughts.
When we open our hearts to others, we also open ourselves up to pain, as well. Sometimes those we help hurt us and we must expect pain as a follower of the Lord, for think what they did to Him. Sometimes people walk roughshod over our hearts, but let that not deter us from opening ours. We never know what God has in store for us, for often He surprises us. One such experience some time ago, I met a lady in a wheelchair at church who was legally blind. We exchanged names and she had heard I supplied clothes to different people, so she asked if I would find clothes for her. Since I worked at Share and Care then, I started looking for clothes in her size and brought them over to her at Assisted Living. But the Lord had much more in mind, for I spent time with her and we shared the Lord and prayed together. I have come to love her and each time we go to the lake I visit her; and since she now has more clothes than she can possibly wear I just bring her baked goods and root beer to celebrate with others and we spend the whole time sharing and praying. I always feel uplifted after my time with her.
The Lord has put each of us in a particular place to help us to grow in Him but also to help those around us. Let us keep our hearts open first to God’s love and then to others.
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