We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
When she was struck by cancer, Elsie was prepared to go home to heaven to be with Jesus. But she recovered, though the disease left her immobile. It also left her wondering why God had spared her life. “What good can I do?” she asked Him. “I don’t have much money or skills, and I can’t walk. How can I be useful to You?”
Then she found small, simple ways to serve others, especially her home cleaners who were migrants. She bought them food or gave them a few dollars whenever she saw them. These cash gifts were small, yet they went a long way toward helping the workers make ends meet. As she did so, she found God providing for her: friends and relatives gave her gifts and money, enabling her to bless others in return.
As she shared her story, I couldn’t help but think of how Elsie was truly putting into practice the call to love one another in 1 John 4:19: “We love because he first loved us” as well as the truth of Acts 20:35, which reminds us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Elsie gave because she received and was in turn encouraged as she gave. Yet it took little more from her than a loving, grateful heart and a readiness to offer what she had—which God multiplied in a virtuous circle of giving and receiving. Let’s ask Him to give us a thankful and generous heart to give as He leads us!
What have you received from God? How can you encourage someone in a simple yet meaningful way today?
Dear Father, thank You for Your gifts in my life. Please give me a heart to love others just as You’ve loved me.
INSIGHT
John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), wrote the fourth gospel to show us that God in His great love gave us His Son to die for our sins and to give us eternal life (3:15-18, 36). This new life is characterized by love (13:34-35). Some years later, this same John wrote his first epistle, reminding believers that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In language reminiscent of John 3:16-17 he says: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. . . . [He is] an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10). John urged believers to put this love into action: “Since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other” (v. 11 nlt). God’s love commands and compels us to love others (vv. 19-21).