«N» FOR NAZARENE

«Then He said to them all, «If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me» (Luke 9:23).

RICHARD STEARNS served as president and chief executive of a fine porcelain tableware production company when he received a phone call from his friend Bill Bryce. It was to tell him that World Vision, the well-known international humanitarian aid organization, was looking for a new president; and that he, Richards Stearns, could be that president.

Stearns immediately replied that he was unavailable. He was the chief executive of a prestigious corporation. In addition, he enjoyed his work and the material advantages he received. Would he change that to serve those in need in the world’s poorest countries?

Well, that’s what he did. In 1998, Richard Stearns accepted the challenge of serving the underprivileged, but not just to bring them humanitarian assistance. He would do that and much more: he would also fulfill the mission left to us by the Lord Jesus to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to preach His gospel to every person.

Twenty years later, in 2018, Richard Stearns retired, just as World Vision was experiencing its greatest growth in the organization’s history. The budget had tripled; the institution had about forty thousand employees; and it was providing humanitarian aid in a hundred of the poorest countries on the planet.

However, when Jeremy Weber of Christianity Today asked him what memories he would take with him when he retired, his response had nothing to do with those achievements. Instead, he showed the reporter a mosaic engraved with the letter «N» in Arabic. It was a gift he had received from refugee Christians in Ira* Kurdistan region. What did that letter «N» stand for? One woman in the group explained that the terrorist group of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, better known as ISIS, would usually paint the letter «N,» for Nazarene, on the homes where Christians lived, to identify them, and subsequently plunder the homes. «For us, the followers of Christ,» the woman said, «this is our cross.» What for some is a symbol of shame, for them represents the honor of being followers of the Nazarene who died on Calvary.

Today, when Stearns sees the mosaic, he remembers a refugee woman who, risking everything, studies the Bible with other believers, in a house marked with the letter «N.» «They have lost everything,» Stearns says, «however, they have a story to tell.» It is the story of the God who they love, and for who they are willing to sacrifice everything.
What about you, do you have a story to tell?

Holy Spirit, touch me today, and ignite in me the passion to give everything, even my life, for the One who died for me on Calvary.

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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate