DAILY DEVOTION: "Love One Another"

Day 5: Love One Another

Scripture: (Romans 12:10):  Be devoted to one another in love.

Author:  Mark Perkins

Each year I watch the classic Christmas movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart. 

George Bailey is the character that I most empathize with.  Maybe it’s because, like me, he’s such a dreamer.  George was always dreaming about traveling the world and doing great things.  However, circumstances kept getting in the way of George accomplishing his dreams.

George never sat down and mourned the loss of his dreams. He simply set on building a life for himself, even though it wasn’t the life he’d originally dreamed of.  One Christmas Eve night George’s life seemed to come crashing down.  After throwing a killer tantum, hurting his family’s feelings, and getting drunk, the despondent George, sitting on a bar stool, prayed this prayer.

“Dear Father, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way.  I’m at the end of my rope.  Show me the way, oh God.”

While George was busy deferring his dreams to help everyone else, he was also touching lives in ways he couldn’t even imagine.  On the night when he felt he’d reach the end of his rope, the voices of the lives he touched began to cry out to God on his behalf.

As the story goes, an angel named Clarence was sent down to earth to help George out.  Clarence showed George how many lives he had touched over the years, and in the end, George was able to reunite with his family in a glorious way.

So, what about us?  What are we doing to touch people’s lives in our community and beyond?  How are we taking our background, training, talents and making the best of it looking for opportunities to serve our Lord and Savior in our Jerusalem?