Oh my! When I opened my Bible this morning the words literally jumped off the page!
Love in Practice! Amazing thought, godly teaching.
“If you see a cow or sheep wandering around lost, take the animal back to its owner. 2 If the owner lives too far away, or if you don’t know who the owner is, take the animal home with you and take care of it. The owner will come looking for the animal, and then you can give it back. 3 That’s what you should do if you find anything that belongs to someone else. Do whatever you can to help, whether you find a cow or sheep or donkey or some clothing.” Deuteronomy 22:1-3 CEV
Now granted, in our day and age we don’t see too many cows or sheep wandering around lost so before you say these verses really don’t apply to me let’s look at the concept. The instruction that Moses was giving to the nation of Israel was to look out for one another, even if you don’t know that person.
God desires that we would act like Him, remember?
“Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children. Let love be your guide.” Ephesians 5:1 CEV
Living rurally as we have there have been a number of times, we would come down the road to find a cow or a calf on the wrong side of the fence. A time or two we would wrangle them back through the gate that had been left open and secure it. But at others we would stop at the ranch house we would simply alert them that the cattle were out so they could get them penned up again. Not something you normally find in the city.
However, I have to tell a story on us. We had a neighbor who never took care of her yard. When we got ready to sell the house it concerned us that this would be a detriment to any potential buyers. We griped and complained to each other, alot, and even voiced our complaint to a few neighbors and family members. Then one day we were convicted about our complaining and when we listened to the Lord’s heart, we knew that we had to do. Dave went and talked to the neighbor and said he wanted to hire someone to clean up her yards.
He found a local handy man and sent him over to look at the job. We were through complaining and ready to put Love In Practice.
While we were in the mountains this summer it was common practice to ask the other campground workers if there was anything they needed when we headed to town. Most of the time there wasn’t but occasionally we would be asked to bring back a couple bags of ice, milk, coffee, fresh veggies and even a bag of birdseed.
We could switch this morning’s title around to say “Practice Love”. We don’t always get it right the first time, so we need to keep practicing.
Do the neighbors need a helping hand, a babysitter, a lawn mowed or groceries delivered? Do they need someone to take in their trash cans when their gone or water their plants? Practice love!
So, the next time you see a cow or a sheep walking down the road, (or someone in need) take the time to stop and put Love in Practice!