Monday Morning Encouragement -- "Because I Have Jesus"

 

"Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory," 1 Peter 1:8

Yesterday during our worship service a man from Rwanda shared the story of his encounter with a woman from a nearby village who invited him into her home. As he spoke of her and their time together, photos were projected on the large screens above him. I marveled at two things: the first was the wide smile on her face, and the second was the abject poverty in which she lived. 

During the Rwanda Genocide of 1994 this woman lost her husband and all her children. Now she lives in a broken down house, little more than a one room shack. Besides the hoe she uses in her sweet potato patch, her only possessions are a sleeping mat, a piece of fabric, one plastic cup, one plastic plate, a fork, and a broken small pot in which she cooks her food. When it rains she rolls up her mat and stands in a corner of the house and waits for the rain to stop and the wood floor to dry up. Then she can put her mat back and sleep. This is how she lives day after day, month after month, year after year.

And yet, she is happy.

Her guest -- the man telling us this story -- was confused by what he saw. How could a woman living in such poverty be so happy. How could she maintain that beautiful, big smile we saw on her face. When he asked her why she is happy, she answered, "Because I have Jesus." She is a living testament to 1 Peter 1:8: Though she has not seen Jesus, she loves Him. Though she does not now see Him, she believes in Him and rejoices with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.

Lord, give me this kind of love for you.

Today's music video Give Me Jesus by Fernando Ortega is a favorite of mine, and so appropriate to today's message.

I love you, I'm thinking of you, and I'm praying for you.