"Who can I love today who may have nothing to offer me in return?"

This is the question that has stuck with me over the past few days. My nightly devotion at the moment is over true hospitality (She Reads Truth - awesome studies!) and it is opening my eyes in so many ways.

We as Christians are called to love people - including the least of these. What even is "the least of these?" It's those at the very bottom of the pile. The forgotten. The highly needy with nothing to give in return. The widows. The orphans. The poor and hurting. The people that no one wants to talk to. In Matthew 25, Christ tells us that when we love and serve these, we are loving and serving Jesus Himself. But also, when we forget or ignore those in need, we are forgetting and ignoring Jesus.

I know, I know. It's really hard to take part in someone else's difficult circumstances - to take on their heartache as if it was our own. But think about this: When we love those that are broken and alienated, we are mirroring the example Christ set for us. God made a way for us when we had nothing to offer Him, when we were dead because of our sin, when we had nothing good in us. He still came and took our places. He came because He loves us and He sees past our brokenness. How wonderful is that?

We are called to intentionally love others because that's what Christ did for us. To love is to let our Savior work through us.

Look for those around you today that you can intentionally love. My prayer every day lately has been for God to give me opportunities to consciously love and pour into someone that needs it. He does not disappoint and He is oh so faithful.