Jacob and his little brother, Danny, squished and squashed in cool mud with bare toes. "It sounds like the thing at the dentist that sucks your spit!" Danny said gleefully. He pulled his foot out of the mud and stuck it back in with a satisfying squelch.
"Don't remind me," Jacob said. "My appointment's tomorrow. I hate the dentist." He backed up from the big mud hole in their yard and then ran straight toward it. "The dentist can just take this!" he yelled and slipped across the mud on his belly, sliding past Danny. The boys were soon slip-sliding through the mud, pretending to race in the Olympic skeleton event.
Several minutes later, Mom called the boys inside to clean up. Jacob showered first. Then Mom drew a bath for Danny. As the water ran, Mom called, "Jacob, please watch your little brother. I'll be right back."
Watching Danny scoop water and pour it out again gave Jacob an idea. "Watch this, Danny," Jacob said, and he lodged a container under the faucet. Danny stared, fascinated, at the roaring water filling the container and spilling over into the bathtub like a fountain.
"This faucet is kinda like God," Jacob said.
"How?" Danny asked, wide-eyed.
"God fills us with His love, and then we're so full, the love spills right out!" Jacob said. "I learned a verse that says we love because God first loved us. Now I'm going to remember that verse whenever I see a faucet!"
"Does the water squirter at the dentist count as a faucet?" Mom asked, entering with a stack of fresh towels.
Jacob groaned. "Did you have to remind me? I'd finally forgotten."
"Forgetting doesn't fix our problems. What if you remembered what you told Danny about God's overflowing love instead?"
"At the dentist? Mom! God's love is the last thing I think about there! Some people are just impossible to love."
"Maybe you need to get closer to the faucet," Mom suggested. "Jesus showed His love for us when He died on the cross for our sins. The more we receive His love--through His words in the Bible and from His people, the church--the more prepared we are to overflow that love to others." She smiled and ruffled Jacob's hair. "Even the dentist." Pearl Allard
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Who is the impossible-to-love person in your life? The Bible says we love because God first loved us. You can’t love anyone well until you’re filled with God’s love for you. So let Him fill you with His love. Spend time talking to Him and learning more about Him in His Word, and spend time with His people—other Christians. Those are good ways to remind yourself how much He loves you!
TODAY'S KEY VERSE: 1 John 4:19 (KJV)
We love because he first loved us. (CSB)