Moments from Haiti... The power of God's love

Jesus preached that love is the core of the human response to God (see Matt 22:34-40). What made Haiti so impactful for me is that I saw this theological truth in the faces of children. The boys and girls in the orphanage have known various degrees of mistreatment, abuse, and abandonment. They are now in an environment where, for the first time, they are saturated with God's love. You can see in their faces the transformation that is taking place as they go from closed to open, hard to soft, begging to giving.

They are like flowers that open their petals to receive sunlight. They soak up love like sponges soak up water. They are irresistable for that very reason.

David Benner writes this in his book Surrender to Love...

"Christianity is the world's great love religion. The Christian God comes to us as love, in love, for love. The Christian God woos us with love and works our transformation through love.

"In spite of the trivializing influence of romantic and sentimental views of love in Western culture, love is the strongest force in the universe. Gravity may hold planets in orbit and nuclear force may hold the atom together, but only love has the power to transform persons.

"Only love can soften a hard heart. Only love can renew trust after it has been shattered. Only love can inspire acts of genuine self-sacrifice. Only love can free us from the tyrannizing effects of fear.

"There is nothing more important in life than learning to love and be loved. Jesus elevated love as the goal of spiritual transformation. Psychoanalysts consider it the capstone of psychological growth. Giving and receiving love is at the heart of being human. It is our raison d'etre."

A raison d'etre is a "reason for being." Giving and receiving love is our reason for being. It was why we were created. In the end when we give account for our lives, giving and receiving love in the power of the triune God is all that will matter.

Haiti showed me in vivid color what I have long believed intellectually and tried to live out. God's love is what matters. God's love transforms people.

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