In concert with a ministry team, I conduct numerous classes. In one of our new believer’s Basic Training sessions, the course assignment asked the group to show love to someone inside and outside the church that week and then report back. In anticipation, I was excited to hear what occurred. I just knew God would take those small acts and do some mind-blowing things! So you can only imagine my emotional response when I found that none of the twenty-three had completed the assignment. I am not kidding. Since I had taught the love lesson I felt dismayed.
Trying to recover, I used the moment to reflect on how difficult it is for all of us to get outside our own agendas. Many rarely show exceptional love toward others. Sometimes, it never happens with non-believers. But then, redeeming the day, one of the wives brought up that her husband James had completed the assignment. We all clapped! Whew! He had fixed a car for a woman for free—and not only hers but also the car of her EX. Can you believe that! The other interesting note was that inside this group of over twenty Christians, the one person who showed love that week was a non-Christian.