Tangible Love
As I sat next to my friend Margaret, who was lying in her hospital bed, I took in the bustle and activity of the other patients, medical staff, and visitors. A young woman sitting nearby with her ailing mother asked Margaret, “Who are all the people who keep visiting you?” She responded, “They’re members of my church family!” The young woman remarked that she’d never seen anything like it; she felt as if the many visitors were “like tangible love poured out.” Margaret replied, smiling, “It all comes down to our love of God through His Son Jesus Christ!”
In her response, Margaret echoed the disciple John, who in his final years wrote three letters brimming with love. In his first letter, he said, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). That is, those who acknowledge “that Jesus is the Son of God” (v. 15) have God living in them through “his Spirit” (v. 13). How can we lovingly care for others? “We love because he first loved us” (v. 19).
Because of the gift of God’s love, visiting Margaret hadn’t felt like a hardship to me or others in our church. I received more than I gave, not only from Margaret, but through observing her gentle witness about her Savior, Jesus. How might God love others through you today?
By Amy Boucher Pye - Daily Bread Ministries
1 John 4:13-21 (NIV):
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
