Yes, I am also that kind of person who tends to spiritualized everything ; the shark fact is sobering because I never knew I was that selfish and self centered.

When it does not rain for sometimes, we spiritualisers will say, “O, a rainy day makes me so blue and I think the Lord loves me so much that He does not let it rain”. But what about those people who need  rain for their harvest and livelihood? Does the Lord love them less?

I remembered my talked with a friend about life, love and Christianity. Of course, she’s a Christian with a wonderful husband, a cute daughter and a good life. She mentioned to me about love being the most important thing in the world; it rings a bell.

 Here is one story… once there was a beautiful girl who search for truth. The seeking for truth led her to Christ and she has a life changing experience in varied colors. She was adamant to marry a fellow Christian only and she started seeing one boy from the church (exclusively). It was good and they even started talking about marriage, the girl has never been happier.

Arrangements were made for the big day, but Lo! only three more days before her nuptial, the Christian boy broke off with her. She was scattered. By and by, she was able to pick herself up with help from real Christians with genuine love and motive.

Life goes on and she moves on. She met another Christian boy, this time everything seems perfect. He was even the son of a pastor. Nothing can go wrong this time and the big day was just another day away. But Lo! her fiancé' family broke off with her because of the demand made by the church pastor, which at that moment cannot be met  by the girl.

Obviously, the girl was completely crushed. She lost hope in life, she lost hope in the church leaders, and she lost hope in love and men. She remained in the pit for a very very long time. She stops going to church, she stops reading the Bible and she even stops praying.

She dragged her tired feet and broken heart to work every day. Already, the society looks down on her for her new faith  and now she is ostracized for being jilted twice. She lost hope in everything.

One day as she was talking on the radio, someone caught her voice. This man (let’s call him Tom) started taking to her about love and life. She did not want to listen. But the man patiently waited for her; being there consistently till the time she  was ready to open herself up.

It was a long wait for the  person at the other end. But Tom waited . And as they talked, the girl challenges Tom on the truth and validity of the Bible and Christian life but the man gently guided her towards believing again, giving her answers from the Bible and healing her wounds from quoting passages from the Bible.

 But Lo and Behold! Tom was not a Christian. He was just someone who believes in Love, who never shouts big time, “I love the Lord”. He just lives it out selflessly.

 And it was Tom who led the girl back to Christ, into restoring her faith and reviving her love for Christ, never digging into what he can get from the girl in return. After receiving such genuine love given with a genuine motive, the girl started smiling again. Now she is happily married to a gorgeous loving man with two beautiful kids, faithfully serving the Lord. She has never been happier, laughing freely as a bird.

Christian smiles, hugs and seem warm to one another. But we became gossipmongers the moment the back of a person was turned. How terrible!  And most of the time, we are so much into ourselves and what is good for us! Given the slightest opportunity, we started belittling and talking down on people and about them. Never bring out the prayer needs of a person if it is not done in genuine love. Don’t do it, the person will just hated you more. Everybody can feel what is genuine and what is not, nobody’s a fool, even animals can feel and understand true love!  Anything, even criticism done in genuine love bring smiles, reconciliation, peace and all the other good things.

Here’s another true story- Once upon a time, there was a wonderful, cheerful and generous woman with a  caring husband and three brilliant boys, serving the Lord. She shared how low she felt as she worked with a so- called Christian lady. She said that she used to be a person who would face any challenges in life with self confidence and zeal. But as she worked under this woman, she told us how her self-esteemed has hit the bottom, her  Christian boss had robbed her of all her self confidence and that  she never felt as low as she was as that time in her entire life. “Before working with her, I thought that I can do anything  but after working with her, I felt so worthless as she makes me feel  that I am not capable of  doing anything good," she said. We listened to her quietly and sympathized with her. It was ironic that she was working in a Christian organization which was supposed to build up people. ! Horrible.

As Christians, it’s high time we started checking our MOTIVES, our so call warmness to other people. Do we want to grow in life and experience real happiness?  Then its time we stop practicing all these petty meanness and try loving another person wholeheartedly, genuinely for a change. Remember how much Jesus hated hypocrites. Let stop being one.

And what about starting a conversion which is not intent on bringing the other person  down but one which will makes him feel great and loved . And what about starting a discussion which is not bend on promoting oneself and our so call deeds and virtues. Let’s practice listening to others and hearing them out without telling them our great stories in return, when not required. There’s an  old saying, “ At the end of the day, it does not matter how much you gave but how you make the other person’s feel ."

 Let practice building up one another with a good heart. Knowing that this human heart cannot love, God has given us the heart of Christ which knows no other way but to love genuinely. Let’s pray for a heart that truly loves another person which asks nothing in return. Lets revive ourselves in having a genuine heart and feelings for people.  As human beings, we are blessed with so much potential to brighten another person’s life with a small kind word, encouragement and love. Let just starts loving people excessively and genuinely and leave the rest to God.

Every blessing to you.