Daily Devotional
God’s Love Manifested Through Me

May 2, 2024

Ponder This

I heard about a pastor in Georgia who went to visit a couple who was new in the church, and he noticed they had a little dog. And it was evident they loved and cared for the dog very well. The pastor asked, “Do you have any children?” When the pastor asked this, the woman began to cry and walked out of the room. The husband said, “We did have a son. He was our only child, but our son died and is in Heaven. And this little dog it may seem we make too much of was his. The love we’re pouring on this little animal is just our way of saying we love our son. You may think we love this dog too much, but I tell you we love him so much because our son loved him so much.”

When I heard that story, I thought, “That is so much like the Church.” We’re not much, but I tell you there’s somebody who loves us. His name is Jesus. Why do I love the Church? Because Jesus loves the Church. What a circle of friends we have because we have the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. We are to love others as Jesus loved us. That’s what friendship means.

• What would change if you started to love others in the same way Christ has loved you?
• Who has been an example to you of sacrificial Christ-like love?

Practice This

Love someone in a servant-hearted way today.