For years I attended church in Pikeville with a set of twins, Danny and David. I'm sure there must be some way of telling them apart, but I never figured out what it was. When I met them on the street, I never was quite sure which one I was talking to. Originally, both of them were attorneys, but one finally got into banking for a while.

I attended school with another set of twins, Betty and Bobbie, but they weren't identical. I had no trouble, even with my poor eyesight, distinguishing one from the other. They were sisters, and there was certainly a strong family resemblance, but there were enough differences to set them apart from each other.

None of us knows the name of the poor widow who dropped all she had into the offering. Nonetheless, we will forever remember her as the perfect example of sacrificial giving. That one act caught our Lord's attention, and that was all that mattered. Similarly, the woman who bathed Christ's feet with tears and dried them with her hair made her own lasting memorial. Whether or not she was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, as described in another incident, we don't know for sure. What we do know is that she acted, as the widow did, out of love for the Lord. The lives of both of these women made a difference, not only at the time, but throughout the whole history of the church.

Love is the difference. The old song we sang back in my college days said, "They will know we are Christians by our love." Many people love others; we love our sweethearts, our families, even our fellow man, whether we're Christians or not. Only those who know Christ, though, can really love God, and share his love with others. It is that sacrificial, giving agape love that sets us apart. It is the love that persists in the face of all obstacles, and the love that will not give up, even to our own hurt.

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JESUS IS the Bridge Ministries

Beneath His Wings Devotionals - Vol. 2