Love in action

LOVE is one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all human qualities. It is a sincere and real caring for others put into action. Unselfish concern and service to others is a spiritual gift from God. This special gift from God is available to everyone. Unfortunately, not everyone is accepting this gift from God.

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Let me share with you stories about love in action. In 1 John 4:16, we find the following verse: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” Love is better expressed in action rather than words. This is the reason stories about love never cease to lose their appeal.

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Here is one story:-

Bennett Cerf relates this story about a bus that was bumping along a back road in the South. In one seat a wispy old man sat holding a bunch of fresh flowers. Across the aisle was a young girl whose eyes came back again and again to the man’s flowers. The time came for the old man to get off. Impulsively he thrust the flowers into the girl’s lap. “I can see you love the flowers,” he explained, “and I think my wife would like for you to have them. I’ll tell her I gave them to you.” The girl accepted the flowers, then watched the old man get off the bus and walk through the gate of a small cemetery. (By R. Strand)

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Here’s another story:-

Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the well-known German composer, was not handsome. He had a grotesque hunchback.

One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter named Frumtje. Moses fell hopelessly in love with her. But Frumtje was repulsed by his misshapen appearance.

When it came time for him to leave, Moses gathered his courage and climbed the stairs to her room to take one last opportunity to speak with her. She was a vision of heavenly beauty. After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, “Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?”

“Yes,” she answered, looking at the floor. “And do you?”

“Yes, I do,” he replied. “You see, in heaven at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me. Then the Lord added, ‘But your wife will be humpbacked.’

Right then and there I called out, “Oh Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy. Please, Lord, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.”

Then Frumtje looked up into his eyes and was stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Mendelssohn her hand and later became his devoted wife. (By R. Strand)

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Many of us have made hasty decisions in the past which we later regret. Especially decisions about love. Here is one such story.

One spring some time before the Civil War, a young man in search of work came to Worthy Taylor’s prosperous Ohio farm. The farmer knew nothing much about the young man except that his name was Jim. Still he gave him a job for the summer.

Jim spent the summer cutting wood for the stove and fireplace, milking cows, putting up hay, helping with the harvest, and anything else Mr. Taylor asked him to do. He ate in the kitchen and slept in the haymow.

Before the summer was over, Jim had fallen in love with Taylor’s daughter. The farmer refused to let him marry her, telling Jim bluntly that he had no money, no name, no job, no vocation, and the prospects for his future and the future of his daughter, if married to him, were poor indeed. So the farmer said “No” emphatically.

Jim got the message. Sadly he packed his few belongings into his old carpetbag and went on his way, never to be heard from again by the farmer or his daughter.

Thirty-five years passed, and the farmer Taylor decided to tear down his old barn to make way for a new and larger barn. When they got to removing the rafters above the old haymow, he discovered that Jim had carved his full name on one of the beams. That name was James A. Garfield. He was now the president of the United States of America!

Farmer Worthy Taylor missed that finest catch for his daughter that she could have had. The problem was compounded by the fact that Taylor’s daughter had indeed married a man with his permission and blessing. Now 30 years of heartbreak had proven the husband to be a no-good bum!

Have you ever been offered a “fantastic catch” only to have turned down the opportunity? What compounds the situation is to have lived long enough to regret that mistake in judgment or choice. (By R. Strand)

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From the Biblical standpoint, Jesus Christ offers the best kind of love – the opportunity to accept Him as our Lord and personal Savior. In John 3:16, we find the following verse: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus Christ is God’s gift for mankind and He paid the full price for all our sins. God looks upon with us with love and forgave us even though we, being sinners, do not deserve it.

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Let us take time to read the Holy Bible every day. Because it is the Word of God; it is not just a book that contains the Word of God. Because the Holy Bible is relevant today. Because we need to enjoy a close personal relationship with God, our Creator. Because the Holy Bible gives us a picture of God as a God of love.

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Finally, as one Christian writer says, “the essence of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we give of ourselves.”

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This column continues to give out copies of the Holy Bible for free to those who cannot afford to buy their own copies. If interested, please send your letter-request to Ms. Nelly Favis Villafuerte, 5th Floor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Roxas Blvd., Manila. Kindly mention if it is the Tagalog, English, Cebuano, or Ilocano version that is preferred.

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This column is also giving out for free a 42-page 3 x 5 inch booklet that briefly explains the doctrine of salvation presented in the Holy Bible. To those who are struggling as to what the Holy Bible really says on how souls can be saved from eternal damnation, please do not hesitate to write me and ask for a copy of this booklet. Let us not forget the Biblical verse that says “What profits a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”

Be joyful and forgiving!

By Atty. Nelly Favis Villafuerte
Link: http://www.mb.com.ph/OPED20090215148161.html