"For you, dear friends, have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love". - (Galatians 5:13, NLT).
A long time ago, a little boy was working for a blacksmith in his shop. The blacksmith was a hard man, and he kept his shop very clean.
One day the boy's boss gave him a large box of metal shavings. He told the boy to carry the box to the forge, the great fireplace where the man melted and banged out various metal tools and ornaments. The boy obeyed, but on the way, he slipped on the cobblestone floor. He lost his grip on the box of metal shavings, and the box flew out of his hands and spilled its contents on the stone floor.
"Oh, no!" the boy said. "What am I going to do now?" He had to clean up the mess quickly, or the blacksmith would be angry at him for his clumsiness. He fell to his knees, and tried to pick up the sharp metal shavings by hand, but they cut his fingers and made them bleed. He ran to get the broom, but then he realized the broom would do him no good; many tiny pieces of shavings had fallen between the bricks on the floor and could not be swept up with a broom.
"What am I going to do?" he repeated.
What would you do? You can't pick them up by hand. You can't sweep them up with a broom. A vacuum cleaner would suck them up into a bag of dust, not into the blacksmith's box. You would probably do the same thing the boy did. He searched and searched until he finally found what he needed--a magnet! The magnet attracted all the tiny shavings that lay on the bricks and between the bricks, lifting them off the floor and into the blacksmith's box. The boy was saved because he knew that a magnet would attract the metal.
Do you know that true Christian love has a similar property? Oh, it won't lift metal shavings off a blacksmith's floor. But it will attract loving attitudes and actions like a magnet attracts metal.
Millions of people through the years have found this out. When you love others, you get love back. True Christian love will act as a magnet, bringing more and more love into your life. The Bible is filled with stories that reveal this property of love, stories of Ruth's love for Boaz, Esther's love for her Uncle Mordecai, Jesus' love for Lazarus, Paul's love for Timothy.
In a much more profound way, love is like mail: you've got to send it to get it. Hatred and cruelty will repel others and bring misery, but love attracts love the way a magnet attracts metal.
Review: Today's reading uses two similes ("love is like. . .") to describe the blessings of true Christian love. What are they? How is love like a magnet? How is love like mail?
Reflect: Who have you been loving with true Christian love? Who have you not been loving as you should? What can you do today to show true Christian love to others? What can you do this week to show true Christian love to others?
Reinforce: If possible, keep a magnet in your purse or pocket this week to remind you that hatred invites only hatred, but love attracts love. If you don't have a magnet, use a letter instead (to remind you that love is like mail: you've got to send it to get it).
Prayer: Our Loving Heavenly Father, Help us to Continue to love each other with true Christian love. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, In Jesus Loving Name I Pray, Amen."
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