Mother Teresa feeding the poorest of the poor and for doing so she came to be known as THE SAINT OF THE GUTTERS.
Love: Action Speaks Louder
WORSHIP both in the Old (Ex 23:25; Dt. 6:13, 10:20; 1 Sam. 7:3) and New Testaments (Matt. 4:10; Lk. 4:8) implies SERVICE. One worships God by serving Him. If worship entails service, then how do we truly serve God?
1st, service in turn implies OBEDIENCE. Christ made it clear: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES the will of My Father… will enter” (Matt. 7:21).
2nd, what command must we obey then? “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART… SOUL… MIND… [and] LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40).
Therefore, if “loving God and our neighbor” means obedience to the Father, and if this obedience translates to service, then we truly serve God if we also serve OTHERS. For, as John emphasized, “…the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, CANNOT love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).
James made sure this is fully understood when he wrote: “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is DEAD, being by itself” (Jas. 2:15-17). “You see that a man is justified by works and NOT BY FAITH ALONE… For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith WITHOUT works is dead” (Jas. 2:24-26).
Fact is, Christ in the end will not ask us how well we memorized our bibles or how many prayers have we recited. He already has a set of questions prepared for us all:
1) Did you give him something to eat when he was hungry?
2) Did you give him something to drink when he was thirsty?
3) He was a stranger, did you invite him in?
4) Did you clothed him when he was naked?
5) Did you look after him when he was sick?
7) Did you visit him in prison?
For whatever we do to the least of our brothers we do unto Him (READ Matt 25:3-46).
Our RELATIONSHIP to God is judged upon our relationship with our neighbors. Even the forgiveness we ask from God is DEPENDENT upon the forgiveness we give to those who have wronged us, “FORGIVE US our sins, AS WE HAVE FORGIVEN those who sin against us” (Matt. 6:12 NLT). I believe the REASON why Paul said that between FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE, it is LOVE which is the greatest (1 Cor. 13:13), its because LOVE ACTS and action speaks louder than words. In fact, Paul himself proposed: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith WORKING through LOVE” (Gal. 5:6).