The picture could be from a million places, but I know it comes from Nyamabuga. The boy could be any boy, but I know its Ezra. A couple days before I had asked this little Ugandan to show me plants by being my guide on a short walk. He showed me coffee, mango, casava, and pineapple. He also showed me the field where he took care of the cows. This day I walked down and got a snapshot of him doing just that. Over the course of a couple weeks, I tried to let him know he was special but especially to God. His parents abandoned him, and I know that without the intervention of God’s love, he (like many children) would fade away in a sea of unbelief and disappointment.
But I know what God does: He somehow lets each person know that He is real, then touches something deep so we know we have a choice to believe him or not. In these days God usually does it through believers, who take the time to express love to others. As they mature, they go out of their way to find those quick opportunities—sometimes with perfect strangers or sometimes with their own children—to express something of God’s love. We do it in the hope that it becomes part of the trigger that causes the little one to reach out to God, who is ready to bestow His love on anyone, anywhere, and in the midst of any circumstance. Like my Ugandan friends around Ezra, I became one more reminder to him that God is real and loves him.
There is a story in Luke, where God takes the time to go to Simon Peter’s home to visit his mother-in-law, who had a dangerously high fever. At this point, the disciples barely knew Jesus; His ministry was just beginning. But they were going to get a lesson: He cares for little people, people with no reputation and no name. The disciples were all concerned, because they had asked Jesus to please come. He came. He entered the home, the bedroom, and the presence of a lady whose name we do not know. He rebukes the fever, and she rises to serve those in her home. In the course of the next couple years, similar events happen over and over and over. God expresses His love by intervening in people’s lives—talking with them, touching them, healing them, and telling them of His love. Some respond; some do not, but nothing deters Him from expressing His love when the opportunity arises.
So when you see a little boy like Ezra, or mother-in-law with a fever, or any person who catches your eye within your sphere of influence, and it occurs to you that God’s love can be expressed by something you can do or say, then do it. How can we, having been touched by His love, do nothing? And, if the reader does not know Jesus Christ in a personal way, please consider the wonder of His love that was laid down for you. If you will respond, turn from your present path, and embrace Him, you can know this love for yourself.
Reference: Luke 4:38-39
