December 31

Love With Skin on It

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down ones’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command (John 15:12-14).

Scripture: John 15:12-17

Song: “Do Something”

My friend Pam had a rough childhood. When a friend started taking her to church, Pam believed that God loved her, but she didn’t feel loved until she became friends with a woman she now calls her spiritual mom. Her spiritual mom hugged and held her with physical arms. She listened to her with physical ears and talked with her on the phone for hours with a physical voice.

To feel loved, Pam needed more than a theological concept or a verse from the Bible: she needed love “with skin on it,” as she says. Experiencing love in a tangible way strengthened Pam’s faith in God’s love—a love that is just as real, but at times more difficult for us to feel.

Find a way to show love “with skin on it” to someone today; it can be as simple as an encouraging word, a listening ear, or a helpful pair of hands.

Lord, thank You for choosing me and calling me to be Your friend. Help me to love Your people in a way they can feel and point them to Your love. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

December 31–January 6. Katie Robles lives in Delaware with her husband and four young sons. She blogs, gardens, and works in a school cafeteria.