An Equation for Truth

Life - Love = Zero.



The best use of life is love. The best use of love is time. The best time to love is now.

My senior year of college me and my buddies went down to Little Rock (Arkansas' pitiful version of a "city") and we were going to see a band play a show at a local venue. It was a cold, dark night in the middle of January - so cold in fact that we were all layered up. We parked our car a few blocks down from the place and on our way inside, we saw a woman.

With tears streaming down her face, in a Coldplay's "Fix You" sort of way, she approached us begging for money. She had dark circles around her eyes as if she had just been in a bar fight. Her clothes smelled of alcohol, probably vodka, and I could see the tobacco stains underneath her finger nails. She did not smile, she did not introduce. She just cried.

I immediately thought about the woman in Luke 7. A well-known prostitute comes to Jesus begging for His love and after the Pharisees judge her, Jesus looks at Peter and says, "Do you see this woman?" I felt like Jesus was asking me the same question on that cold winter night.

How could we (with any sense of integrity) walk by her and go enjoy our little concert? Think about this. Cover charge: $10. A couple beers: $15. An appetizer: $8. $33 that could go so much further than live music and beer.

What would it look like if we all started making financial decisions that reflected our faith more than our selfishness? Brett Dennen, a reggae musician, says:

"And there's enough wealth for everyone, but some have the most and the most have some. And there's enough food for us all to flourish, tell me why are so many malnourished? You say there's weakness in an empty pocket, no. I'll tell you there's weakness in an empty heart."

So with those lyrics in mind, we walked with her, hand in hand, to buy her a meal and to listen to her story. By the end of the night we served 5 other people who were searching for much more than a burger - we prayed with them and put them in a hotel for a night. This isn't told to boast, this is told to inspire, to evoke, to change. It's about time we stop living for materialism and we start living to give. When you give, you begin to live. When you serve, you begin to see.

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:39

Keep following Him, He is the equation for truth. KL.