“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:35
Dave Simmons tells about a day he took his kids to a local mall. His daughter Helen was eight years old and his son Brandon was five. On the way into the mall, they saw a sign for a petting zoo. Both kids begged to go inside.
The father gave each kid a quarter and they disappeared into the zoo, wanting to spend every moment possible with the furry creatures.
After a few minutes in the store Simmons turned around to see Helen patiently waiting for him.
He asked her, “Why aren’t you at the petting zoo?”
She replied, “It costs 50 cents, so I gave my quarter to Brandon.”
After the shopping was done they both stood outside the fence, watching Brandon on the inside run with glee from goat to rabbit and back again.
Knowing his daughter loved animals, Helen’s dad waited for her to ask for another fifty cents. But she stood quietly and patiently, watching her brother enjoy the animals.
In a small way that day, Helen had learned the lesson of sacrificial love.
On the night before Jesus was handed over for suffering and death, he told his disciples, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
And in the next few hours he gave up everything, not just to provide salvation for us, but also to show what real love was all about.
What do you have that you are willing to give up to show love to someone? In what small way can you show how much God loves them?
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