-D.Scott Phillips

Tonight my roommate had a stack of 10 cent gospel tracts stacked on top of the kitchen table. My first instinct was to toss them in the trash; my second thought was to gather them in a pile and burn them as a fragrant offering to the Lord. 

Gospel tracts are cheap. They were not always so, and I will not deny that God is sovereign and can use anything, including a 10 cent gospel tract, to glorify His name.

He’s used donkeys to rebuke asinine prophets.

He’s used cursing pastors to transform cities. 

And he even used a socially awkward freshman to witness, and thereby rescue, this foolish blog writer. 

God’s sovereignty trumps human folly, but how much better to display love in the language of the one who needs it. I’ve been reading through Gary Chapman’s “The Five Love Languages” to help me love my girlfriend better (and everyone else in my life, too); the premise of the book is that people have different ways they receive love, and mine is probably not yours. 

This is fine when things are fine. But when your husband’s lost his job, the bills are piling, and the food is depleting, the type of love demanded becomes rather apparent. That is why Mars Hill: Lake City is taking this Valentine season to give love in the way our community needs it: 

- toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss

- deodorant, shampoo, conditioner

- laundry detergent, fabric softener, 

- other hygienic products

- and food, too

To use Gary Chapman’s idea, it would be as foolish to give someone without food a rose, as it would be to show your wife love by washing the car when all she wants is to spend quality time with you. 

Or to use the words of James, brother of Jesus,

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  James 3:14-17 

Give love, Mars Hill, not cheap sentiment. 

I’ve got my bag ready. Things that would not show love very well to me, but this is not about me, and this is what our community North Helpline has requested. 

Give love, Mars Hill, and through this we wage war for our heavenly Father, displaying through kindness what our Christ showed through nails: ill-deserving creatures being lavished upon with gracious perfume, deodorant that sniffs of mercy, and shampoo bathed in the prayers of strangers.