Use it if you got it

I've been playing single dad this week while my wife is away in Costa Rica on a medical/dental mission trip.  Long before she was a full-time mom, she was a dental hygienist.  While she only fills in occasionally now, she keeps her license up-to-date every year.  Here's my sweet Emily is working at their makeshift clinic:

When they went to a new area to set up a clinic on Wednesday, people started lining up at 6 a.m.  Most of them had never been to a dentist before in their lives.  And why is her team doing this?  Because Jesus said that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Love sometimes looks like cleaning people's teeth for free half a world away.

I'm really proud of her (and ready for her to be home!).  I'm excited that she's getting to use a skill and talent for the Kingdom.  Those of us that call ourselves followers of Christ are compelled to do this.  If you are not a follower of Christ, how big a difference would it make to you if Christians over and over again displayed their love for people around them with the gifts God has given them.  Often, we don't think our skill-set matches God's work in the world, but there are so many ways to love our neighbor.  How could you use your God-given talents and skills to serve the Kingdom?  How can you love your neighbor simply by doing what you're good at for free?  This will require getting out of your comfort zone and it will require sacrifice, but if we follow Christ, we don't really have a choice.  The path to finding the abundant life Jesus spoke of is found outside our comfort zone right in the middle of sacrifice.  When we love people in tangible ways simply out of our heart to follow Christ and His commands, it's amazing how open they are to hear about our Jesus.  And we have to do both.  People don't want to hear a Gospel that they are not seeing lived out, and people that see acts of mercy without a message are simply experiencing good deeds, which anyone can do.  However, if we want the world to listen to our Jesus, we must show Him to them as well.