"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."A Salvation Army worker found a derelict woman alone on the street and invited her to come into the chapel for help, but the woman refused to move. The female worker assured her: "We love you and want to help you. God loves you. Jesus died for you." But the woman did not budge.
As if on divine impulse, the worker leaned over and kissed the woman on the cheek, taking her into her arms. The woman began to sob and, like a child, was led into the chapel, where she ultimately trusted Christ.
"You told me that God loved me" she said later, "but it wasn't until you showed me that God loved me that I wanted to be saved."
Jesus did not simply preach the love of God; He proved it by giving His life on the cross. He expects His followers to do likewise. If we abide in Christ, we will abide in His love. If we abide in His love, we must share this love with others. In other words, as Christians there is no separation between our inner life and our outer life.
This devotional was taken from Warren Wiersbe's book Pause for Power.
There are many ways we can show Christ's love for others. As I was typing this message, one of our Spiritual Sundays people came to my mind. That person calls herself micey. Her name is Michelle. She has linked with us on Spiritual Sundays almost every week since we first started this blog. Right now micey is making preparation to go to Africa on another mission trip. If you are not acquainted with her I hope you will visit her blog and learn all about this trip that is coming up very soon. You can click HERE to go to her blog.
I like this story. We often find it easy to tell someone that God loves them, but find it harder to actually show them by being His hands and feet. I want to work on that and start showing more of my inner life in my outer life:)
ReplyDeleteGood morning Charlotte...It has been a while since I have linked up with Spiritual Sundays and I have really missed them. I remember Micey well. I will definitely be visiting her this morning too. I loved the devotional you shared as well. To show God's love like that, in such a simple way, just soo blessed me this morning! Have a wonderful day! Debbie
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if we approached each day with that mind set: who can I show love today to? So many people hurting and in need of validation and encouragement. Sometimes we don't even know, it can be someone very close to us, but who hasn't said anything about his or her pain!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend! Patsy from
HeARTworks
A message of truth...
ReplyDeleteWishing you Christ Peace, His Joy, His Love.
Great message.I have been praying that God would show me how to love more..Love can work miracles!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting Spiritual Sunday.
Thanks for sharing that story about love, Charlotte. Blessings ~
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet and encouraging story, Charlotte. A good reminder that we are often "Jesus with skin on" to the world around us. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am praying this for my life--that God would enable me to manifest his life to others. Good devotional, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis is so true, Charlotte...an important reminder for all of us. I was thinking about you this week and about the cruise you took and thinking how grateful I was that you were safe and had such a good time. xo Cindy
ReplyDeleteDon't just say it; show it. Beautiful advice!
ReplyDeleteThis was a wonderful story, Charlotte. So inspirational. I always think about Jesus touching the lepers. Those poor dear people, outcasts and considered unclean. They were so marginalized - and lonely. Yet, Jesus went out of His way to TOUCH them. May we seek to be like Him, and bring His loving arms to those who so desperately need His salvation.
ReplyDeleteGOD BLESS!
Wow! What a powerful story of God's love in action. Makes me look at myself and wonder if I am loving with action.
ReplyDeleteI loved the story Charlotte....His kiss...His love through us.....changes even the hardest hearts. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteI love the title of this post , it gets right down to it . If you tell it ,you must be willing to show it . I pray for him to love through me because without him I will fail miserably . Great Post !
ReplyDeleteThis inspires me to be better at my job at the public school. I pray that I will show the love of God. Beautiful post, Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteI love this! How that small act of love must have pleased our Savior. Thank you for sharing this story.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Pamela
There's a book called, "To Tell the Truth" that talks about how so many people are not raised in the church, that they don't even know who the Father is - and so we can't use church concepts. That person might have an abusive Father, so saying, "Do you want to go to heaven and live with the Father" - well, they don't have a definition of a loving Father - so we need to show them with stories and actions about a loving Father, like your post talks about:)
ReplyDeleteThis is very true, Charlotte, that we don't just speak of God's love but to purposefully let people FEEL it THROUGH us. They have to EXPERIENCE it through us for them to believe that God's love is REAL, then they would come to Jesus and open up their hearts.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Rina