The family completed reading their evening devotional together and knelt to pray. Mary Jane, the youngest of the children, always prayed first. After a moment’s hesitation she said, “You know God, there are only four people in our family, and there are some days, like today, that I don’t love any of them. How can You love everybody all of the time?”
Fortunately, God loves us no matter how we act or who we are. And we see His love revealed in the life of Jesus.
Recall His patience with His disciples. In spite of their faults, unfaithfulness and ignorance, He never gave up on them. He was able to overlook their past lives and their present limitations and see the role they would fulfill in establishing His Kingdom on earth.
Remember His kindness, His compassionate gentleness and His thoughtfulness when he took a few loaves and some fish and fed the hungry multitude. He did not say, “I’ll feed you if you listen carefully to what I have to say.” Nor did He satisfy Himself and His disciples first while others waited to get the leftovers. No, He extended His love to those in need because He wanted them to understand a love that put others first.
Jesus took every opportunity to reach out to anyone and everyone and set the example of what true love is. He is indeed the essence of love – God’s love – a love that is gentle, patient, kind, thoughtful and constant.
Prayer: Fill our hearts, Heavenly Father, with a love that has no limits, is unconditional, patient in times of stress and expects nothing in return for being helpful. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Scripture for Today: 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
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