I begin this post with an old inspiring and touching story from China. There was an old grandfather named Bai Fang Li. He was living in Tianjin, China. What is interesting thing from this old man? The most interesting thing from him is even though he was live in shortage, he had has very rich heart. Poverty was not being a reason for him to keep giving to others. He was called to give donations to schools and universities in Tianjin city to help more than 300 poor children in order to able obtain an education for their future. Many years he was pedaling his rickshaw to get money in order to increase amount of his contributions.
He lived in an old and rusty hut in a slum area of the city where many rickshaw operators and garbage collectors live and he also lived without thinking of his own needs so that he could give more and more. Two raisin cakes and fresh water became his lunch menu and just a piece of meat or an egg for dinner. Regardless of weather conditions he was always pedaling his rickshaw from 6 am to 8 pm. “it is okay I am suffered”, but let that poor children can go to school “he said. When he was 90 years old, he realized that he was no longer able to pedal his rickshaw. His last saving that amounted five hundreds Yuan donated all to a school. He said, “I could not to pedal a rickshaw again. I cannot give a donation anymore. It might be my last donation that I could give” It was makes all teachers in that school crying. Three years later grandpa Li passed away in poverty. Yet, behind his poverty, during his lifetime he has been contributed a total of three hundred and fifty thousand Yuan. He devoted his life fully to help poor children who could not afford to school. What an inspiring story, right?
Now, what is the message of the inspiring story for us as Christians? In the midst of the world which centered on self-interest, where the caring to others getting scarce, what was done by grandpa Li pointed out that there are still people who have a noble heart more than a gold in this world. He was still loves and care to others though he lived in poverty. I called it “A True Love”
Apostle Paul describes love so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Depiction of love in those verses so beautifully summarized by grandfather Li’s action. His contribution was not just limited by sympathy words but all real embodied through the sacrifices that he did for the sake of helping those children who did not have opportunity to get an education. I wonder, from the billions of people in this world, how many grandpa Li who care about each other and willing to sacrifice just for helping others? A poor man like grandpa Li wanted to do it, while many rich people just sat quietly does not have concern for the people around who really need help.
Holy Bible said, Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:18) Grandpa Li did it so beautiful through the concrete action even in the midst of his poorness. He was not being a selfish or just thinking about himself but he even willing to sacrifice all-out until the last of his strength to help other. He also did all of that was not solely to seek popularity or honored by people. I think, for him have a decent life is more important than having popularity! Please remember he was just a very old rickshaw driver. He really had a sincerity and true love to helping each other.
Grandpa Li was gone but his devotion will continue to be remembered by millions people in this world. I am convinced despite physically he suffered, but his heart happy to be able to do something for others. He realized that it would be happier if can give rather than receive.
…‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (Act 20:35)
After I read and ponder this inspiring story, I conclude that there are some important things that we could get from this inspiring story and I called it as the value of true love.
First, Initiative! True love has an initiative. This poor old man has initiative express his love by reaching out his hand to help others. It is same with God. God loves us not in a passive ways. He not just waiting us to love Him first but God directly reached out His hand to express His love to us with a very beautiful ways. John said,
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Furthermore, Paul said,
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
The second, beside has an initiative, grandpa Li was active in order to could express his love to others by working tirelessly pedaling his rickshaw. He not expresses his love just by his words but also by action as it is written in 1 John 3:18.
Third, grandpa Li has a great caring to others interests. He realized that there are hundreds poor children need help and threatened could not school and get a proper education. God’s word reminds us to not merely attach great importance to our own need and interests, but also pay attention to others needs and interests.
Not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:4)
Be emphasized again in 1 John 3:17,
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Fourth, sacrifice! This is a thing that quite difficult to do. Jesus said,
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)
Not only with words but directly Jesus proved to be willing to give his life for the mankind salvation by dying on the cross. And this is then followed by His disciples willing to sacrifice their life just for proclaim God’s word to all over the world. Not many people are willing to sacrifice to help others while he himself lives in hardship. This old poor man was doing this thing so beautiful. He was willing to sacrifice for the sake of helping others. He was willing to lived in the slums and eat potluck so he could save his money.
My dear readers, it is so easy we say that we have love. But the question is what kind of love? Are we having true love that has initiative? Whether we have an active love that accompanied with action? How big our concern to others interests? And are we willing to sacrifice to others? Whether in everyday life we have to apply the principles of love as God wants? This evening I would like to encourage you to learn from this inspiring story. Let the story of grandpa Li could be a model for us to express the true love to others. We may not like grandpa Li who really live in poverty, so let us have an initiative to give what we could give to helping each others who in need. Do not be discouraged and ashamed if not be able to give much as long as we give with sincerity. God does not look at how much that we can give but rather to look our sincerity, our willingness to sacrifice and truly based on true love. God really appreciate to those who are willing to sacrifices to give in the shortage.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44)
Suppose that we could not help people in the form of matter, we can help others in another form such as giving a tender smile and a warm hug to our friends who are in grief, spend our time to giving encouragement to people who are discouraged, or put them in our prayer list, and maybe just do very simple daily things such as say “hello” and asking “how are you. Are you okay?” It all will give a big impact to others. Let’s pray to God ask for the strength, wisdom and have a sensitive heart to the others difficulties so we always could express our true love to others. Let us pray that true love remain thrives in our lives and keep it warm because we live in the world where wickedness is increased. As Jesus reminds us, Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, (Matthew 24:12) and let us could be a window for those people around us to know and experience God’s love through our true love. Amen.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (I John 4: 7-8)
Karina – Living by Faith
For the detailed story and photos of Bai Fang Li click here
I wish to thank you to Paul Militaru for the awesome and beautiful picture
Photo by Paul Militaru http://photopaulm.com
Reblogged this on Christlike Articles and commented:
Right approach to people around you, no matter your level and ground exposes your love status to God; meaning you are living in the light of His love.
such a beautiful story and great application Karina.
Dear brother Ben,
Thank you so much for you nice and kind comment 🙂 Blessings to you.
Beautiful story! May we all show God’s love to those around us. We always have a choice. We an choose to love or choose to judge. We need to leave a legacy of love and grace, not one of judgment and hate. Blessings, Karina!
Dear sis Shelly,
Yes your comment was so true. We have to leave a legacy of love and grace not judgement and hate. Thank you for your lovely comment,sis. Blessings to you too.
Great post Karina.
Thank you for sharing Bai Fang Li’s story. It was so inspiring. He was an amazing model. I was challenged reading his story and reading your thoughts on love, REAL love! A love that is only expressed with words is not love at all. Real love has some kind of action following it….God bless you.
Rolain
Dear brother Rolain,
Thank you so much for the such kind comment. I am so honored. Yes the story was inspiring and become my challenge too 🙂 have a blessed day to you.
Enjoy the rest of your week Karina. 🙂
“Suppose that we could not help people in the form of matter …” – Karina you reminded me how much we view “money” or “time”as sacrifice and giving to others. Yet in love? We give our heart and with that follows everything else without cost.
You made me think which I am doing if I think “money”, “time”, “energy” (and all the other “giving” labels) – and how little of my “heart” I consider. Thank you!
🙂
Dear brother Paul,
What you think about is what think about too. Often time we just thinking about us alone and just thinking about profit and loss when want to give something to other. Only true love that not alwyas think about it all. Thank you very much for your lovely comment (as always). Many blessings to you, brother Paul.
And you Karina – and you. 🙂
Wonderful post.
Regards and good will blogging.
Hello there,
Thank you very much for reading my post and for the nice comment 🙂 Blessings in Christ.
Beautiful story, and such an inspiration!
Dear sister Sheila,
Thank you so much for reading and lovely comment. Blessings.
What a lovely story, Karina. Grandpa Li is truly a picture of sacrificial love. I like how you point out that it is not only our money that we can give to show love. I think we often forget that choosing to take the time to smile, to pray, to give a word of encouragement is also love in action. Beautiful post, dear sister!
Dear sister Rebeca,
Thank you very much for reading and gave me lovely comment on my post. Have a blessed day, sis 🙂
Thank you, Karina, for stirring us up to love greatly, for we are greatly loved? God bless you!
Dear Sis Debbie,
You are always welcome, sis. Thank you for kind comment 🙂 Jesus bless you too.
A beautiful expression of Love and self-sacrifice from a heart of compassion, thank you Katrina for sharing Grandpa Bai Fang Li with us and we rejoice that today he is very rich with Treasure that has no worldly value for many today but is priceless in Eternity.
Christian Love from us both – Anne
Dear sister Anne,
Thank you very much for your lovely comment. Yes Grandpa Li has a beautiful heart and sincerity to giving others in needs. Blessings to you, sis 🙂
Excell
Excellent story! It is a great challenge to be willing to do more and to get out of my comfort zone in helping others. Thanks for sharing.
Dear brother in Christ Tom,
you are much welcome 🙂 thank you very much for taking time reading my post and gave a lovely comment. Blessings in Christ.
inspiring. vw
Hello there,
Thank you very much 🙂 Blessings in Christ.
Et tu. vw
Beautiful story Karina. Thanks for sharing.
Be a Blessing!
LaTrice
Dear sister LaTrice,
You are much welcome, sis. Thank you for taking time to read my post. Blessings.
Oh, so lovely and beautiful and inspiring ❤
Hello dear,
Thank you so much for reading also your lovely comment 🙂 Blessings to you.
🙂 ❤ blessings to you too! 🙂
very good message…..most important lesson here is that the real part of his sacrifices was that he did it without attention…..
Hi there,
Thank you so much for reading and commenting my post and also thank you for your thought 🙂 Many blessings to you.
Beautiful post, Karina. So many lessons for us weaved within it!
Dear Sister in Christ Lilka,
Thank you so much for reading and nice comment:) have a nice weekend and God bless.
Thanks for sharing this inspiring story! What a beautiful heart Grandpa Bai Fang Li had! Even though he was poor on the outside, but before God he was a very rich man because he had a truly rich and abundant heart. May God help us to learn from great examples like this.
Karina, God bless you! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Dear sis Shade,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, sis 🙂 Yes May God always help and strengthen us to always be able to show a true love like this inspiring story. Have a great and blessed weekend to you too, sis.
Reblogged this on Freedomborn … Aussie Christian Focus and commented:
Thank you Karina for sharing Bai Fang Li. Story with us, your words added to the Truth it clearly defines…”Love is an Action not just a word” what is in our hearts will be expressed for good or bad depending on our Focus and when our Focus is on Jesus our rewards will be Eternal because He is the only way to God our Heavenly Father.
Christian Love in our Unity in Christ Jesus- Anne
Dear sis Anne,
You are always welcome:) Thank you for you kindness reblog my post. It was such an honor for me. Your comment was so true. Love is an action not just a sympathy words and always focus on Jesus alone. Once again thank you so much 🙂 Blessings in Christ.
The inspiring story of the rickshaw driver Bai Fang Li was an inspiration of a dear dear man, whose love for children in poverty was such that only his passing could stop him working for those children. He truly did put into practice all that Jesus said about putting your love for others into action, thank you Karina, I enjoyed it.
Blessings
Ron
Dear Ron,
Thank you so much for the lovely comment on my post. Yes you are so true. This inspiring story was a great inspiration to others to have and show the true love of God. Many blessings to you 🙂
Sorry Katrina, someone at WordPress is playing games again, it happens mostly in the weekends, you will need to delete 2 of Ron’s Comments, I Post his comments for him but it was not showing, so I posted again, this was happening before but they never answered why. I also never received your comment either about the Reblog, I saw it when I posted Ron’s comment although it still might come but others haven’t.
Blessings -Anne
Dear sis Anne,
It is ok, sis. Not a big deal 🙂 Yes you are right. Sometimes WordPress getting weird. I have experienced it too.. Some of my non blogger friend could not post their comments. But indeed it have been posted. I will delete Ron’s comment later 🙂 Blessings.
I meant to tell you Karina to always check your Spam or Trash, some Bloggers have found my comments in there and this has also happened to others and I have found Bloggers comments in my Spam too.
Games the childish play, hopefully they will grow up one day!
Blessings – Anne
Sis Anne,
Thank you for your valuable information about blog. I will do it regularly. Thank you for your attention, sis.
Your story really touched my heart. I think people like him might be only one in a million people. He is a poor man, but have an amazing generosity. On the contrary, I knew a lot of rich people are happy to give a donation for the orphanage, churches, missions, and others. But actually they have poor family who have financial problem, even heavily indebted, but they did not want to help them. Sometimes, people easily to help others who they don’t know, but unwilling to help people they knew. Sorry, maybe my comment is so sarcastic, but i think i talk the reality. I knew them well. But i am sure you are not people like that 🙂 God bless you
Dear sis Sella,
First of all, I wish to thank to you for taking time read my post 🙂 Now, talk about your comment, I am going to tell you something that your comment was not sarcastic. It was so true. I have found so many people like you said as well. You know what, in the country that I live now, there are so many indifferent people about others even their own relatives and that is become my priority in prayer so that they really have true love as what God wants. Thank you for your important thought. Blessings.
Hi Karina,
Thank you for sharing that lovely story. What an inspiration! I also thank you for your insightful commentary, you’ve really given me something to think about.
God bless you!
John
Dear brother in Christ John,
Thank you so much for taking your time to visiting and reading my post. Such an honor for me. Just pray that my post will be blessed you and many others. Thank you very much and blessings.
Karina
Reblogged this on Worship The Lord Jesus and commented:
An amazing story of true selfless giving along with insights by the author that will make you think.
Dear brother in Christ John,
Thank you so much for reblog my post 🙂 many blessings to you.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful and inspiring story. This man demonstrated how the whole body of Christ should be.
Dear sister Lauren
You are welcome. Thank you for reading my post and gave me lovely comment 🙂 Blessings to you.
A beautiful and challenging post Karina. I will be sharing this with my readers too. So true. Blessings. : )
Thank you so muh my dear friend 🙂 also thank you for your kindness to share this post to your readers. Much appreciated. Blessings to you.
Here’s the link: http://papergiftsforestefany.wordpress.com/2014/08/24/karina/ : )
My dear beloved friend in Christ,
Thank you so much for sharing my post on yours. I really appreciate it. Just pray to God that it will be bless to other bloggers. Amen. Have a blessed sunday to you 🙂
Pingback: A True Love | Paper Gifts for Estefany
The world could sure use more folks like Bai Fang Li. Love over personal wealth. Can’t beat that. Nice post. Peace.
Hello there,
Thank you for reading and commenting my post. Yes I agree with you. World need more people who have great heart to love others 🙂 Thank you and blessings.
Karina, what a beautiful story of true love you have shared with us–thank you.
Blessings ~ Wendy ❀
Dear sis Wendy,
you are much welcome. Thank you very much for reading and commenting my post. Blessings to you.
Awesome post and message…your words breathe selfless genuine love for others just like the subject in your post. Thanks for sharing a beautiful flower from your hearts garden my sister! God bless!
Dear brother Wendell,
You are much welcome. Thank you so much for your up lifting comment. Blessings in Christ.
Pingback: “A True Love” 8/27/2014 Karina Susanto | God's group
What a great story! Thank you so much for sharing it. I followed the link to read more, and what a loving man Bai Fang Li was! His acts of kindness touched so many lives. Very seldom do you hear stories like this one.
This is a true reminder that we can affect another person or persons by our generousity. God calls us to be generous, but many people just want more “stuff” and are not generous. This man will be remembered for his love, but many other are forgotten because they did not touch a life.
Hello sis,
Thank you very much for your lovely comment 🙂 yes you are so true. This man will be remembered and inspire many others. Thank you and blessings to you, sis.
Hi Karina
Thank you for that very inspirational reminder for all of us to give.
God loved us so much that He came in the Person of Jesus to give His life for our sins, so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but to live forever with Him. Yes, that is indeed True Love!
Agape,
Uncle Wyman in Hawaii http://drgoldsite.wordpress.com/category/the-greatness-of-jesus-christ/
Hello uncle,
You are much welcome, uncle. Thank you for reading and lovely comment 🙂 send my regards to auntie Liz. Many blessings to both of you 🙂
What a beautiful, inspiring story Karina. And I loved your insights of application to our lives. Our world needs more grandpa Li’s!
Sis Sue,
Thank you so much 🙂 Yes our world needs more people like grandpa Li. Blessings.
Beautiful touching story, more of what is needed in this world today..Well penned.
Hello there,
Thank you so much for taking time visiting and reading my post. I really appreciate it 🙂 many blessings to you.
You’re most welcome
A touching and wonderful post! Thank you for sharing this “love thought!”
TTL
Hello True Light,
You are welcome 🙂 Thank you for reading. Many blessings to you.
What a wonderful post, Karina! ❤
Thank you, sis 🙂 Thank you for always read my posts. God bless.
Hi Karina
Nice to read about True Love again. ‘We love Him because He first loved us’ 1Jn4:19! So nice to hear from you again. I stopped blogging since Jul 2015 after 3 years, & may put in an occasional post soon.
God bless you, your husband, & baby. He must be almost 1y/o?
Aloha & Agape,
Uncle Wyman
Hello uncle,
Glad to see you again..how are you uncle? thank you to God, here I am good. Yes Andrew now 1.5 years old and getting naughty 🙂 he learn to walk and a bit talking. .thank you stopping by, uncle. Regards and hugs to auntie Liz. God bless.
Hi Karina
Hi Karina
So nice to hear from you again. Are you still in Australia? Wow! Your son is already 1.5 y/o. I forgot to tell you that I also posted a paper on True Love. Here it is:
https://drgoldsite.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/true-love-vs-false-love-the-apostasy-of-todays-churches/
Love & Aloha & God bless you & yours,
Uncle Wyman
Dear Uncle,
Right now I am in Singapore and this week I will go to Dubai for business trip. Be glad you pray for me so everything will going well. Thank you,uncle. God bless.
Reading your posts — whether for the first time or the hundredth — is like dipping into a jewel box, Karina. Have a blessed Thanksgiving! ❤
Thank you, sister Anna. Thank you for always put an encouraging comment to my post. God bless 🙂