CAN LOVE BE MEASURED?
My wife Linda and I attended a round-table discussion facilitated by a former-gangster-turned-pastor from Detroit. Linda asked him this question: "How many guys do you think you actually reach who change their lives?" (Meaning how many guys live Christ-centered lives.) The gangster-turned-pastor answered her after some thoughtful reflection: "Probably about one out of every thirty." It didn't sound like a very big success rate until I gave his measurements some prayerful reflection.
One out of thirty is a percentage of success reflected by .333. That's good enough to get you into the Baseball Hall of Fame if that's your batting average. It still didn't seem like a lot to me and I reflected on the success rate of Youth With A Purpose. I have no idea where most of the thousands of young people who've been a part of YWAP are today. I hope someday that some of them come back, and give-back by mentoring other young people.
If you compare those numbers with the success rate of the Israelites who left Egypt and made it into the Promised Land (approximately two out of a million,) they look pretty good. The world is built on numbers. Funders want numbers and surveys, but many times we don't have numbers. How do you count the knocks on you door from a 12 yr. old that missed his bus and asks for a ride to school? How do you count the number of people who are still living because a murderer gave his life to Christ? How do you count the number of times abuse was avoided because a young girl now knows she's beautiful just as God made her?
Love cannot be measured.
If you try and measure love,
you're probably missing an opportunity to show love.
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
One out of thirty is a percentage of success reflected by .333. That's good enough to get you into the Baseball Hall of Fame if that's your batting average. It still didn't seem like a lot to me and I reflected on the success rate of Youth With A Purpose. I have no idea where most of the thousands of young people who've been a part of YWAP are today. I hope someday that some of them come back, and give-back by mentoring other young people.
If you compare those numbers with the success rate of the Israelites who left Egypt and made it into the Promised Land (approximately two out of a million,) they look pretty good. The world is built on numbers. Funders want numbers and surveys, but many times we don't have numbers. How do you count the knocks on you door from a 12 yr. old that missed his bus and asks for a ride to school? How do you count the number of people who are still living because a murderer gave his life to Christ? How do you count the number of times abuse was avoided because a young girl now knows she's beautiful just as God made her?
Love cannot be measured.
If you try and measure love,
you're probably missing an opportunity to show love.
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
DAY 12 WORD
"I’m asking God to give you a gift from the wealth of his glory.
I pray that he would give you inner strength and power through his Spirit.
Then Christ will live in you through faith.
I also pray that love may be the ground into which you sink your roots
and on which you have your foundation.
This way, with all of God’s people you will be able to understand
how wide, long, high, and deep his love is.
You will know Christ’s love,
which goes far beyond any knowledge.
I am praying this so that you may be completely filled with God.
Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us.
By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Glory belongs to God in the church and
in Christ Jesus for all time and eternity!
Amen."
Ephesians 3:16-21
GOD’S WORD Translation
I pray that he would give you inner strength and power through his Spirit.
Then Christ will live in you through faith.
I also pray that love may be the ground into which you sink your roots
and on which you have your foundation.
This way, with all of God’s people you will be able to understand
how wide, long, high, and deep his love is.
You will know Christ’s love,
which goes far beyond any knowledge.
I am praying this so that you may be completely filled with God.
Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us.
By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Glory belongs to God in the church and
in Christ Jesus for all time and eternity!
Amen."
Ephesians 3:16-21
GOD’S WORD Translation
DAY 12 PRAYER
Thank You God for giving me something that I can't know.
You love is above and beyond my comprehension.
Your love shows me how to love in the face of hate.
Help please when I struggle in lovelessness.
I struggle loving those who are filled with hate and rage.
You desire everyone to know love, even when someone doesn't accept it,
You tell me to go the extra mile and turn the other cheek.
I can't do those things without You God.
Thank You for loving me immeasurably.
In Jesus name.
Amen
You love is above and beyond my comprehension.
Your love shows me how to love in the face of hate.
Help please when I struggle in lovelessness.
I struggle loving those who are filled with hate and rage.
You desire everyone to know love, even when someone doesn't accept it,
You tell me to go the extra mile and turn the other cheek.
I can't do those things without You God.
Thank You for loving me immeasurably.
In Jesus name.
Amen
DAY 12 DEEP THOUGHTS
- Can you defend yourself without hitting back?
- Do you stand up for the defenseless?
- Do you count the ways you show or are given love?
Ultimately the measure of a man is the display of his character as related to integrity.
If you died today, would they say that you carried the measure of Christ as a gift of grace?
"But grace was given to each one of us
according to the measure of Christ's gift.”
Ephesians 4:7-10 ESV
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