She was one of the most admired women in the world – Mother Teresa, that
angelic woman who devoted her life to the least of the least in the slums
of Calcutta, India. The world’s greatest leaders wanted to meet her and
to experience her love and her moral authority. Just a diminutive woman
who made such a difference in the world. Some years ago, a young man
wrote a letter to Mother Teresa, asking her how he could make his life
count as she had with hers. He waited six months for a reply from this
very busy lady. When it came, it was just a postcard with four words on
it – four very powerful words – “Find your own Calcutta.”
If you do just what comes naturally, you’ll live the kind of life most
people do – self-focused, self-centered, self-serving. But a life that’s
only as big as you are is too small to live in. And you may be feeling
that emotional and spiritual claustrophobia right now. Business as usual
just isn’t satisfying that restlessness in your heart. Your life is full,
but not really fulfilling. Find your own Calcutta. Find some people who
need you and start pouring your life out for them. The lid will come off
your life.
Jesus gave us an immortal, indelible picture of the two ways to live life
in His classic story of the Good Samaritan. It’s in Luke 10, beginning in
verse 30, our word for toady from the Word of God. “A man was going down
from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They
stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him
half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he
saw the man, he passed by on the other side” – as, by the way, did another
religious leader who came by next.
Jesus goes on: “But a Samaritan… came where the man was; and when he saw
him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds. He put
the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.”
Jesus went on to say that the Samaritan paid all the expenses of the
beaten man’s recovery; and that this Samaritan was the kind of neighbor
that He expects all of us to be.
And there in that simple story is a picture of your lifestyle – all about
yourself, ignoring the needs of people in your path…or all about yourself,
stopping for people’s needs, bearing the burdens of a bleeding world. I
was touched by a news report about a man whose choice may help you step up
to a life that makes a far greater difference.
I’m quoting from USA Today: “David Townsend’s perspective changed
profoundly on the September 11th. That’s in 2001 at the World Trade
Center, altering the direction of his life. “From that moment forward, I
realized that we are not going to live forever,” says Townsend, 37, of
Indianapolis. “I felt an even greater sense of urgency, felt compelled to
leave my mark on the world., it has changed my outlook totally and shaken
me to the core.” Townsend has left his job to work in social services,
with the homeless and with urban churches… “September 11th reinforced in
me (he said) the need to live a life that matters.”
I believe that’s the kind of life you want.
So learn to wake up each morning asking, “Who needs me today?” not “Who
can I meet my needs today?” There are people in your personal circle –
people in your community – who desperately need someone to care. Be there
for them. And remember, there is no greater difference you can make in
someone’s life than to be Jesus Christ to someone else and more, to always
see Him in someone else.
With however many or few years you have left, live to make the greatest
possible difference with the rest of your life!
See you in Church,
Chuck
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