You can see it in their eyes. Overworked, stressed, and isolated. How do you know and give love deeply when you have not experienced much of it? We had a chance after World War II to flood Japan with love and with Jesus, but with hardened hearts, we turned our backs on a country that was destroyed physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Why wasn’t the love of Christ something that prevailed then? Now almost 73 years later, there is still a deep void in the hearts of the Japanese. Very few of them have found the answer to fill it. Would Japan be a Christian nation if we would have answered the call to send over 10,000 missionaries when the war was over or was that void allowed to persist so that many could answer God’s call now? There is no physical evidence of war left in the hills of Hiroshima, but you can still see its scars in the hearts of its people. War-torn hearts. The war that was fought on the outside now wages on the inside. How can we end it?
Any need left unfilled leads to starvation. The hearts of the people we meet on the streets and in the coffee shops of Hiroshima were open. They came to us with empty hearts and empty hands seeking to be filled. Their eyes were fixed on every word that came from our mouths. For the first time in a long time, it seemed like those hungry lives were fed. God was waiting to pour, but He was waiting for vessels to do it through. Our team went to Hiroshima to support Lifehouse Church in any way that we could for four days. Lifehouse Church pours so incredibly well into the lives of those who live in Hiroshima. The community they have already built is thriving. We invited people we met on the streets to come and experience that community. It was incredible to see how people came alive at our meet-ups and parties. You would think that God would have needed us to be armed with His Word ready to preach a sermon at any time, but God only needed us to be present. He only needs us to reach for them then love them. It was simple acts of love that spoke to them more powerfully than any words we could have said. The moments 
shared and the friendships formed penetrated more deeply than any amount of verses we could have left them with. The gospel came to life and lived through our actions. It made me wonder. Is the Word ineffective without there being a relationship behind it? Is the experience of the Word more effective than just sharing words on a page? What I learned on the streets of Hiroshima is that we should seek first to lead people into an experience with God. Often times, we can achieve that by serving them. They interact with God through our love. It’s through a relationship with us that they can experience God, His love, and His healing. It’s through us that they see His character and intentions for their lives. More times than not, we look for God’s miracles to manifest externally. Where is the blind man so that we can heal him? Where is the leper so that we can watch him dance after being touched by God? Healing, for the most part, looks different in our time. The heart is the most diseased and broken down part of our humanity. Of all the parts that need to be healed the most, the heart stands at the front of the line. Within all of us exists the ability to bring healing to the heart. The answer is in John 15.
This trip to Japan brought John 15 to life for me. In John 15:13, Jesus says that a man has no greater love than when someone lays down his for him. It can be easy to write this verse off because we know Jesus was getting ready to lay down His life for His disciples (and for us), but this verse applies to us too. It paints a beautiful picture of what friendship truly is. No, we do not have to physically die on a cross to show others that we love them, but we do have to die to ourselves to show them how great love can be. What does that look like? John 15:13 directly ties in with Philippians 2:3-4 and Galatians 6:2. We show others great love by esteeming them higher than ourselves, by bearing their burdens, and by considering their interests. It may seem impossible to love everyone God brings into our lives or to go out and love all those you meet. You may think it is impossible to love others deeply because of all the hurt you been through or because you have never been deeply loved by another human being before, but Jesus told us nothing is impossible with Him. We can pour all of our love out and still be full. We have the strength that it will take to do so. We derive it from God when we abide in Him. The fruit that grows on our trees has the ability to be life giving if we abide in Him. We draw everything from God.We must first experience life in Him in order to give it to others, and we must first experience His love in order to shower it on others. In order to truly share God, we must know Him. It’s through our relationship with Him that people come to know Him first before they go out and seek Him on their own., The greatest encounter they can have with God through us is love. Undoubtedly, Jesus formed a great love for His friends and family on earth. He saw their brokenness. He was their answer for it. I believe that Jesus would have given up anything to spend an eternity with them and to see them free of all the chains that ensnared them. It was in that moment in the Garden of Gethsemane as He talked to His Father where He realized that the only way for them to have eternity and freedom was to surrender to the cross, was to die to Himself, was to esteem them higher than Himself, and was to bear their burdens. Three days of suffering on a cross are now overshadowed by an eternity of joy. He had to be separated from his loved ones, but because of His sacrifice, He gets to be with them for an eternity. How much do we love? How much as we willing to sacrifice for our family, our friends, and anyone else who does not know Christ. A few moments of sacrifice in our own lives can lead to an eternity of joy. Jesus was truly right. The harvest is plentiful. We need more workers. Jesus made it easy for us. All we have to do is pour our His story and love. The hearts you meet are already hungry. They thirst for what God wants you to give. Once you decide to give, the healing you will witness in the lives of others will be incredible. You’ll get to share in their newfound joy for an eternity. The crazy thing is…you will find more of God every time you give Him to somebody else.
The truth is the Japanese people we served in Hiroshima are no different than Americans or anyone else in the world. Within all of us exists the same brokenness and the same longing for community. The same longing for community I saw in the people of Hiroshima, I had in myself for years. We all fight on the battlefield of loneliness, abandonment, and acceptance. We all live in the midst of stressful days. All of our hearts, whether we realize it or not, are hungry for the love of Jesus and the community He gifts to us. We don’t have to go on a mission trip to find an emotionally and spiritually war-torn person. More often than not, that person is right next to us. Our jobs are mission fields. Our families are mission fields, and our community is a mission field. Our world needs Jesus (shoutout to River Valley Worship), but so does our neighbor. My hope is that we will start with our neighbor then reach out from there.
Overtaken 