If I ask you to describe God with one word, what would it be?

For me, there is only one: Love. God is love. God overflows with love. God cannot stop Himself from sharing love with everybody. He has so much love for every lost person that He was prepared to sacrifice his son so that nobody will be lost if they believe in Him. There is no greater act or proof of someone’s love.

Our whole relationship with God is built on the stable foundation of love. God covers us in love. The secret, however, is not to keep that love to ourselves, but to share it with the people around us. With our Christian sisters and brothers and with every other human being as well.

It’s easy for me to love fellow children of God, because we belong together. But it’s not always that easy to show selfless love to people who don’t belong with us.

We’ll never be able to do it on our own. We need reinforcements. So we need to pray with Paul: ¹²And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you.

We must be on the lookout for places where we can sow God’s love. Like what happened in Ansie’s life. According to Ansie (not her real name), she and her husband struggled quite a lot in the early days of their marriage:

My husband earned very little and we couldn’t afford much. We didn’t even have money for food.

One afternoon when Hennie came home during lunch time, he was accompanied by an older woman who worked with him. She wanted to meet me, because we had just moved to the area. She saw that we had Pronutro for our baby, because that was all that we could afford.

She lived on a farm outside the town. The next morning, she brought me a whole basket filled with food. I never forgot that. The Lord heard my prayers and sent us the food.

Just a simple story, but still something that made a great impact in the lives of people who were struggling. An act of love. The woman did not simply visit – she looked around, searching for a place where she could show love. That is why she saw their need and did something about it.

May we also look for places where we can show Jesus’ love.

Let us pray and ask God to make love visible among us. But even more – that God’s love will become visible in our actions towards other people, the people we work and play with, and also the stranger we from time to time meet along the way.

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13

Reflection

Do you love others?

How can they see it?

Where can you show love today?

Prayer

Lord, You are the best example of living love. I would like to give all the love that I receive from You to others. But it’s not always easy to do that. May I learn more from You so that I can make a real difference in the lives of others. Amen.