Because He First Loved Us By Glory Grace

This past week I went with the middle-schoolers in my church to Belle Glade to help Christ Fellowship’s Life Center summer camp. We took several trips and each time I was utterly astounded by the challenges facing the children.

A fine example occurred this Tuesday…

We had taken the children to the park, where I and a few of the girls serving that day were all sitting on the playground just chatting with the younger children, all of which were in the first grade. We all felt a tinge in our hearts as one of the boys brought up the subject of his father being in jail, and how when he grew up he wanted to spend a lot of time doing the exact same thing. Immediately after he told us this fact about his family, all of the children started piping in about which and how many close family members they knew were in prison. Every single one of them (out of the handful of children we had with us) had a father in jail, and a few of them had even more than just one close family member behind bars.

We encouraged the children to pray for their family members, encouraging them that the Lord loves them and their family members.

It was so challenging to look into their beautiful faces and realize more than likely my opportunity to spend time with them and influence them was over after this week.

And the point I am making through this, which I believe with my entire heart, is that we should never miss out on an opportunity to show someone love.

We should take the old saying never judge a book by its cover to its full extent by demonstrating and living out the very same love, adoration, and mercy we are presented with in Jesus every single day. [bctt tweet=”It does not matter what someone appears to look like, they truly need to know what love looks like.” username=”lyettereback”]

To quote Wendy Mass, we should all be kind. For everyone we meet is fighting a battle we know nothing about. We should never refuse to lend someone a hand, for, who knows what they are truly thinking or believing? Only God. You could be that one person that alters forever the course of someone’s life, just by a showing a friendly smile or sharing a bit of spare change.

[bctt tweet=”We will never truly understand the depths of love until we reach Heaven and are welcomed by Christ Himself. ” username=”lyettereback”]But until then, we can do our best to give freely the very same love that we have received without debt.

Please share this with others, so that we can – together – continue to encourage those who are hindered by hate and unfurl the life-altering truth about God’s pure love towards each and every one of us individually.