TESTIFYING OF GOD'S LOVE

The love we have for our Lord Jesus cannot be separated from the love we manifest towards one another. The love of God is such that it cannot be contained and sealed inside; it is a living spring that pours out and flows towards all people. It is rather convenient to take refuge in subscribing to a theoretical philosophy of how we can improve mankind or impact large masses of people, but fail to manifest love towards our neighbor. We must not overlook or reject the opportunities we have each day to manifest love and compassion. The Lord wants us to share His heart with a world that is dying in despair and sin and with those who need comfort and hope today. It is the ignoble, simple, ordinary and often times apparently insignificant things that can touch people's lives and make God real to them. With every such occasion, we have the unmatched opportunity not only to work with God in bringing solace and hope to the world but also to bring Him joy as we share in His burden for the unsaved, hurting and distressed.

There is nothing too unimportant or too trivial in our life that will not get the interest of our God or fail to stir His heart of compassion. The Lord Jesus was willing to take upon Himself a body of flesh like ours and assume the life of a servant. He identified Himself with our humble condition and shared in our temptations, weaknesses and suffering. The Lord had compassion for the least of the people and attended to their needs whether it was their sicknesses, their emotional or spiritual needs or their immediate physical ones. The example of His life teaches us not only humiliation, but also compassion beyond reason, an open heart beyond our point of comfort, and a desire to identify ourselves with the needs and suffering of those around us. The constant manifestation of kindness, patience and self-renunciation wins us God’s favor and speaks louder about our character than the occasional magnanimous gestures of generosity which sometimes emanate primarily from a desire to gratify or please ourselves. Such a life of continual sacrifice and self-denial can have its source only in God's heart; it brings forth a mighty and incontestable testimony of His love within us and of the genuine interest and loving compassion He has for every one of His creatures.

When we live like this, we become channels of God's blessing, magnifying His love and grace to all those around us. Inasmuch as we do any of these things to one of the least of God's children, we actually do it to the Lord Himself. In so doing, we fulfill the command to "not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18)