Matthew 9:9-13 and dinner

In the calling of a sinner and the making of a disciple, Jesus mandates one to give himself/herself to a life of loving, lifting up and reaching out to the yet undiscipled among the places we live and work.

"I desire mercy, and not sacrifice."

While religious duties and pious acts keep us reverent before a righteous God as well as serve as points of self-disclosure between God and man, He does not intend that we stop there. If we have truly believed, we hope. And we express such indestructible hope by loving.

Love is... the only way the world, so used to cynicism, rat races and the many injustices it both dishes out and suffers, finds the cross relevant. While our worship of God may offend some, its hospitality must invite even the most religiously indifferent to taste and see - and when they do, they cannot but meet Love Himself (cf. 1 John 4:8).

Well, we begin where we are.

Ben and I had dinner with my obstetrician (and wife) yesterday evening. It was our way to thank him for having been so kind to me when I was a seminary student - not charging me anything for the D&C he performed end of 2012 when I had a miscarriage, all the consultations throughout my first and second pregnancies, as well as the emergency C-section in May.

I was a little nervous about dinner initially, but was glad that it happened.

Doctor turned out to be quite chatty. There was no dull moment. There was so much to talk about and discuss - from the state of affairs in our country, the Bible, church history, education, medicine and etc.

But what I most thankful about was the opportunity to get to know Dr. N better... as a humble man who loves his family, fears God and works very hard at his profession - not only to maintain an excellent standard of care for his patients, but to also love his patients through prayer and gracious acts of kindness (obviously he didn't speak of them throughout dinner, but I've experienced and heard much about them from various witnessing sources, including his nurses).

If I weren't a Christian, I would certainly want to know his God.

I would want to know why he keeps a Bible/devotional book on his consultation table in his office.

Thank you, Dr. N for loving us.