Love Never Fails
Well, friends, I'm excited to have an old friend here in the studio with me today. Brian Helsby and I met on a men's camp many years ago. He worked for many years with Youth for Christ here in South Africa and has also worked for years with Heartlines.
This year, Brian released a book called God's Love Stories, which I've been seeing shared online everywhere, so I've asked him to come and share some of the stories from his book. Brian, thanks for being here.
Introducing God's Love Stories
Thanks, Luke. Really great to be with you. I'd like to share, as Luke said, some stories from the book. The book is based on 1 Corinthians 13, that well-known love passage. If you've been to weddings, you'll know it well:
Love is patient and kind.
Love does not envy or boast.
It is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable or resentful.
It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
And so, I divided this book into different chapters, each one talking about stories that express love. God is weaving His love stories through our lives—in the people we meet, in the way we receive God’s love, and in the way we give God’s love. For instance, let me just share one story.
A Story of Persistent Love
For many years, I ran youth programs, including a program at a school hostel for about 100 young people on a Thursday night. Themba was there, and, well, if I can use the term, he was horrible. He was just horrible to everybody. We’d divided into discussion groups, and I'd taken a group of about 10 guys sitting on the floor, trying to explain God’s love. I said, "You know, when you're horrible to somebody, they're horrible back. When you're unkind, they're unkind back. But the opposite is true—when you're loving, they love you back."
One guy raised his hand and said, "What about Themba?" I knew what was coming. "What about Temba?" I replied. "Well, he’s always horrible to you, Brian."
Love Breaks Through
I didn’t take it personally; he was horrible to everyone. Then I asked a dangerous question: "But tell me, how am I to Themba?" They said, "No, Brian, you're always loving, you're always kind." And I said, "I really believe that if I continue to love him and keep loving him, there’ll come a time when that love will break through in his life."
As I said those words, the doors behind me burst open, and the first person through the door was Themba. He stopped when he saw me talking, then came over to me. I stood up, and he came to me and just hugged me. He clung to me—so foreign, so unnatural to who he was and how he treated people. He just kept hugging me, and the guys on the floor were wide-eyed with surprise.
They were wondering, "How did Brian and Themba organize this?" But I hadn’t—God had. And as he continued to hold me, I leaned over his shoulder and said, "You see what I mean?"
Keep Loving, Keep Believing
And folks out there, that’s what I want to say: Keep loving people. Don’t give up. Keep loving and allow God’s love to break through into people’s lives, because love is powerful. God’s love, lived in you through the Holy Spirit, is a powerful thing.
