"I don't know why they didn't go in. I can't understand it. "If I had been walking along a canal and seen a child drowning I would have jumped in. "You don't have to be trained to jump in after a drowning child.” This was the response of the father of a child who drowned in a pond. He was challenging the non-response of two PCSOs who failed to try to save the child because they ‘were not trained’. The child’s mother added, "If you're walking down the street and you see a child drowning you automatically go in that water…You don't care if you're going to lose your job or not, you don't care do you?”
We all know that to fail to act when we can (and these PCSO might not have been able to swim!) reveals a lack of love. Love requires loving actions. Words must be backed up with action. Jesus taught,
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
This phrase, often called The Golden Rule, is set in the context of prayer. To pray is to love people as we would want to be loved. If we know the love of the Father toward us, we will pray to Him for the good of those around us.
I hope that we would all say that a true friend prays for their friends. I hope that we understand that to be prayed for is one of the most powerful and kind things that anyone could do for us.
Added to this, we are much more likely to do practical things for those we pray for. As we pray, the Holy Spirit will inspire practical action.
We need the Father to move our heart for people. We need some hunger and thirst. We need to grieve for this poor world. Solomon wrote of love,
‘Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.’ (Song 8:6-7)