What wondrous love is this? O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul?
What wondrous love is this?
Which caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse,
For my soul. Â Â Â Â (1835, Public Domain)
Oskar Schlinder, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees, during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. While thousands, even millions, of us turned a blind eye to what was happening in Eastern Europe, Herr Schlinder did something to make a difference. Was he a Christian? I do not know. But he did follow the principles of Jesus Christ. He risked his life and saved lives for no earthly payoff.
I do not know if I will be asked to save a thousand people and risk my own life, but I know that God does ask me to sacrifice myself every day. He asks me to let go of social position, my “stuff†that I want, and live with the needs that He provides through His plan.
If you have never read Corrie ten Boom’s little book, The Hiding Place, I encourage you to check it out at your local library. Reading it is like sitting down with her and just talking about evil and about faith. She is candid about her struggle to find God in the concentration camp where she was put for her crime of hiding Jews from the Nazis. My favorite piece is when she comes face-to-face with one of her former jailers many years later. She found the power that God truly has to destroy even hidden seeds of bitterness and hatred and the new freedom she experienced. With God, there is always something more in our relationship! But to receive the more, I must seek Jesus and spend the time with Him. I will find that I cannot outgive Him.
[Jesus said,]“The Lord’s Spirit has come to me, because he has chosen me to tell the good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to free everyone who suffers, and to say, `This is the year the Lord has chosen.’ “Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Luke 4:18-19 (CEV)
I am a disciple, a follower, of Jesus Christ. Jesus the Messiah. My Savior. My friend and brother who will show me how to live my life in service. He shows me how to reach out and uplift children. He shows me how to encourage people young in their faith in Him. He shows me how to reach out with healing to the old and the ill. He shows me the many ways to share His Good News with everyone He brings into my life. Am I willing to be a reflection of His wondrous love?
