Service, Prompted By Love

The picture below is that of St. Teresa Mary of Calcutta, who left her native country to serve the poor and homeless in India as a Roman Catholic nun.

Text: Luke 10:25-37; Matthew 25:31-46

Ministry, today, is usually measured by statistics of how big, how many, and how much.

Many of us associate Jesus and His church with how much glamour we can see. However, the value the world sees in us is how much we care for ourselves, as brethren, and for them—the world.

A young pastor was wondering how he could become like me. He does not understand that:

• I could have stayed back in Aba because of popularity and glamour and ended up being a nuisance to my Bishop and the Body of Christ. Out of love for God I chose to go to Ughelli.
• I started very low by taking care of inmates in the remand home in Aba which, sometimes, included scrubbing toilets of the remand home. I had my own practice then.
• Next, I took care of lepers in a leper colony in Akwa Ibom State. We were able to build a home for them through the Local Government Chairman, then.
• We also took care of inmates in the Aba prisons.
• We took care of motherless babies in the Seventh Day Adventist home.
• I was in Busia, Kenya, in 2004 and my hosts came to carry me with bicycles to preach. We were in a convoy of bicycles to preach.
• In Madagascar, I ate cassava and potato leaves, traveled for 17 hours by road and my bum was sore. I slept on my stomach for almost 3 days because my buttocks were sore.
• For 2 years I never accepted any honorarium. I later took honorarium when I was told it was pride and that I was depriving the people of their blessings.
• All missionary trips into very remote places in Africa have all been paid for from my pocket. At one time my wife told me that others bring dollars from abroad and I take the little we have outside.
• Today, none of those guys can intimidate me with anything because I am fulfilled in my role; I’m not competing with anyone.

The secret of greatness is in service based on the love of God.

He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. He will not owe you.

No pain no gain.