By Peter Kennedy
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13
American writer Saul Bellow published a collection of traditional Jewish tales, including a stunning vignette about what it means to love others. It’s often quoted because it is so apt, and so true: “In a small Jewish town in Russia, there is a rabbi who disappears each Friday morning for several hours. His devoted disciples boast that during those hours their rabbi goes up to heaven and talks to God. A stranger moves into town, and he’s skeptical about all of this, so he decides to check things out. He hides and watches. The Rabbi gets up in the morning, says his prayers, and then dresses in peasant clothes. He grabs an axe, goes off into the woods, and cuts some firewood, which he hauls to a shack on the outskirts of the village. There an old woman and her sick son live. He leaves them the wood, enough for a week, and then sneaks back home.
Having observed the rabbi’s actions, the newcomer stays on in the village and becomes his disciple. And whenever he hears the villagers say, ‘On Friday mornings our rabbi ascends all the way to heaven,’ the newcomer quietly adds, ‘If not higher.’”
The most excellent way of living is to love the Lord and to love others. Today in prayer, praise Jesus that He loves you and love Him and others with all of your heart.
"Love is an image of God, and not a lifeless image, but the living essence of the divine nature, which beams full of all goodness." – Martin Luther
God's Word: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." - Galatians 5:6
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