“They Are Loved Also”
“…who
desires all men to be saved and to come
to the knowledge of the truth.”
(1 Timothy 2:4, NAS)
|
Dear family of friends,
On my regular, early morning drive to my 7 am - 4 pm accounting job on Monday, Aug. 26, 2013, I was listening as
usual to a Paul Wilbur CD. His latest is entitled “Your Great Name”, and the song “Who Can Compare” was coming
almost full volume out of the auto speakers. I am so grateful to Paul and his
Messianic music shared over these past decades. (Our Ahava Love Band really
enjoys playing his music.) What a gift from the Lord he is to so many!
When I
turned onto the College Street exit in uptown Charlotte, the Lord spoke to me
to drive on Tryon Street, the site of the weekend’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transvestite) festival. According to the Charlotte Observer’s news
story on Aug. 24, 2013, at least 55,000 were expected. It had been 19 years
since something like this took place in Charlotte. Honestly, my heart’s cry was
that it would not have been at all.
For that
Saturday night I had bought two tickets in May for the Lion King play uptown, as a Mother’s Day gift for my good wife Laurie,
not knowing at the time that this event was scheduled to go on then also.
With an
hour to kill before the play, after our Irish restaurant dinner, I walked her
around the blocks that I normally do during lunch, showing her the sights of
the beautiful city. I pointed out the new ballpark under construction, the church
park where I found Little Orphan Chuckie a few days earlier (see my Ahava
Love Letter “Little Orphan
Chuckie”) and some of my prayer locations along the way – the fountains, the eating
establishments, the gathering places of people.
When the
need for a bathroom came up, I tried to determine the best way around the festival,
which was a few blocks away from our walk location. But the nearest one was
right through the activity. “OK Lord, this should be interesting” was my
thought.
As a married
couple now for 36 years, we still on occasion hold hands as we walk. So we did thus
on this little adventure also. We weren’t the only ones holding hands.
My heart
was silently praying for these whom the Lord Jesus Christ loves too, and died
for also. As I see it, we have to go where they are, because they aren’t coming
to our nice, comfortable church pews. Isn’t that what our Savior and Messiah Yeshua
did, our Prime Example of expressing the Father’s love? To go where the people
are? Yes it is.
As Steve
Green sang, “People Need The Love.” Yes they do. All shapes, kinds, and
genders. They need the Lord as much as we do in our daily lives. Who will share
His love with them, if not those who already know Him? As so we walked amongst
them.
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Charlotte, NC skyline (Photo by Steve Martin)
When I
drove that next Monday morning, I purposely turned then onto Tryon Street, heading
north on the same blocks where the pride of ungodliness had occurred just a day
earlier. I put down the windows and played really loud Paul Wilbur’s song, “Who Is Like You O Lord.” The lyrics “All
creation declares, none can compare to the greatness of our God” holds true for those who know Him now,
and for those who will, if we just have the love and courage the Holy Spirit,
Ruach HaKodesh, puts in our hearts. I wanted to declare His love and rulership into
the air that morning, where other spirits have tried to rule. We can take that authority
as believers in the King of kings and Lord of lords.
It still holds true today, as the Jewish believer Johanan
(the Apostle John) wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, centuries
before,
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His
one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by
believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to
all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling
the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone
who trusts in Him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust Him has long since
been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that
person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to
Him.” (John 3:16-18 The Message Bible)
They need to hear this, in a loving way, even as we were
presented the Gospel, when we lived in sin. My prayer is that some of us will
be brave enough to share His love, so that they come to know Him too, and not
remain in their lifestyle. There is certainly a life worth living, but it is found
only in Him.
Ahava (love in
Hebrew) to my family of friends,
Steve Martin
Founder/President
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Ahava Love Letter #72
“They Are Loved Also” ©2013 Steve Martin
Date: In the year of our Lord
2013 (08/26/13 Monday at 7:35 am in Charlotte, NC)
All previous editions of Ahava
Love Letter can be found on this Blog:
Here are the last few:
Oskars Needed Again? (#71)
Little Orphan Chuckie (#70)
Demons & Fire Trucks (#69)
I Like Mike (#68)
Disappointed with Small
Beginnings? (#67)
Rise Again (#66)
The Cities (#65)
How can You Mend A Broken Heart
(#64)
Anxious (#63)
Hidden (#62)
Get Back in the Boat (#61)
Need Money? (#60)
