“I’m dying,” said the man sitting across from me in the small café. I looked around but didn’t see anyone sitting near him. “Did you hear me? I said I’m dying!” He said again. This time, I looked directly at him. “You talking to me?” I asked. “Well, do you see anyone else here?”

I picked up my drink and laptop and moved to his table. “You must want to talk about it.” “I do. I want people to know what took me a lifetime to learn.” “What is that?” I inquired. “How to change the world. You change the world by changing people. You change people by showing them love. There is no greater love than laying down your life for a friend. This is the exact formula Jesus used. He demonstrated perfect love to people, and then He died for them. He also died for you and me. Shouldn’t you be writing this down?” “Oh, yes, sir. I’m typing it into my PC.”

“To be like Christ, we must love people so much that it changes them. Of course, some people will squirm but remain living their way, thinking they know best. Or, they are afraid they will have to give up too much here on Earth. In other words, they would rather think they have something now for a few days than have everything for eternity.

Love wins! Love always wins, and love will always win! Love is the right way to make things better. Love is the best way to say, ‘I hear you.’ Love doesn’t insist on proving it is right. You see, “love” doesn’t seek it’s own. Love thinks of the other person first. Love understands where they are coming from. Why they are the way they are without compromising who they are.

Love shows they kindly understand but gently challanges the other to grow in the right direction and the proper ways without imposing a deadline for them to achieve, but doesn’t get loud in speech when they don’t. Love hopes for the best in everyone.”

“Wow,” I replied. “I can see how those receiving love would want to respond positively and then share that kind of love with others.” “You’re right,” he said. “I just wished I had learned this much earlier in life. I didn’t, and as a result, I hurt many people. I thought I was loving them by wanting them to live life the way I do. My life has been simple, with little chaos, and extremely organized. I accepted Jesus at a young age, and my relationship with God has made life bearable. I wanted others to have what I had. Though my motivation may have been pure, my words and methods weren’t always the best.”

“I appreciate your wisdom and your honesty. I assure you I will share this with the world. I hope others will take it to heat and start doing more to love people.” I said to the man. He got up and threw out his trash. When he returned to our table, he had a tear in his eye. He thanked me for listening and sharing what took him a lifetime to learn.

---

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:7-18 (NIV)

Copyright © 2023 Mark Brady.