Love one another
This message from our CEO Graham Ross comes from our winter 2020 newsletter.
One of the problems each of us face today is desensitisation – becoming numb, deaf, dumb and blind to events around us.
As I write today (and the figures will be vastly different when you read this), worldwide, there are 5.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases, 91,500 new cases overnight and 333,446 deaths. In the same period this year, death by other causes included 3.7 million heart attacks, 2.7 million strokes, 1.3 million lower respiratory tract infections (flu etc), and 3.1 million died from starvation.
Are these just numbers, or are they people, all of whom had families, friends and loved ones? If you have experienced the death of just one person close to you, then you know the suffering and grief that goes with every one of those numbers above.
Jesus understood the value of each individual and gave us the profound command to ‘Love one another as I have loved you’. And then he laid down the challenge and said, ‘By this will people know you are my disciples’.
So what are we to do? Individually, we are unable to fix and help all of the deaths above; however, it is possible to make a difference to one life at a time. And how do we that that? By expressing love, both emotionally and practically.
At Teen Challenge SA, this is our mission: take one person at a time, who has hit major problems in life, turned to alcohol, drugs or self-harm, and love them with the love of Jesus … And guess what? By this, they know that we are Jesus’ disciples, and they want to have a relationship with him.
In turn, their lives get transformed, free from addiction and abuse. Frequently our students go on to help others with similar problems.
People are not just numbers and statistics. Don’t let the big picture choke you so much that you give up and think you cannot make a difference. One small act of kindness can transform an individual life.
Blessings,
Graham Ross
CEO