Paying it forward
This past Sunday, we had Missionaries visit our church. Following the service, we wanted to bless them by treating them to lunch. After spending a couple hours of eating and visiting with one another, our waitress finally came over and informed us that our bill had been taken care of.
What an awesome surprise. The Missionaries commented to us that they had never had that happen before. Isn’t that just like God, just when you think you can do something for someone, He does it even bigger and better.
I don’t know if you have ever seen the movie “Pay it forward”, but it is a movie that came out several years ago that still this day leaves a lasting impression on my heart. This generosity of someone, this past Sunday, made me think of this “pay it forward” concept. The movie centers around a boy’s school project that simply is getting people to do nice things for at least 3 people, with the only thing expected in return is that they turn around and do the same thing; do a good deed for another 3 people. It was amazing to see the ripple effect that such kindness with no strings attached caused.
Picking up the lunch tab for someone may not be in our pocketbook, but “paying it forward” is exactly the ripple that our world needs. The gospel encourages this throughout all of It’s pages. The love of Christ is all about paying it forward to others.
It is quite difficult for me to understand how we can take the love of Christ and apply it to our own lives and NOT try to send it on to others. God’s love is not meant for us to lock away in our hearts and only hold onto for our own benefit. God’s love is meant to be shared. It is meant to be paid forward. The God “pay it forward” equation would look something like this:
God loves you = you love others=others love God=others love others.
We all have different kinds of love languages. How you express love to one person may be different than how you express love to someone else. It really doesn’t matter how you express love, as long as you express it:
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” -1 John 4:11
One of the most remarkable things about Jesus was the way He could love people. It didn’t matter what kind of love language they spoke, Jesus knew all of the love languages. It was easy for Him to love. But for some reason, we make loving others difficult. We only want to love those who are lovable. We tend to love those who are most like us or who love us back.
God did not put conditions on His love. He said, “For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, for WHOSOEVER believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Today, I want to encourage you to find someone (or 3 someone’s) to pay it forward to. It would be nice to pay for a random person’s meal, or pay for an elderly person’s gas, or give a homeless person a $100.00 bill; but if you can’t bless someone in such a way, just love them. Show love in a tangible way today to someone; a hug, a smile, a cup of coffee or a word of prayer may just be the ripple that someone is looking for. Show Christ to someone today, so they in turn, can show Christ to someone they meet along the way.
What a difference it would make if we paid forward the love of Christ!
What a powerful message, Laurie. You are right, we need to pay forward the love of Christ; without conditions attached to it.