Love Like Jesus

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.’” John 13:34-35 NKJV

In a heartwarming story published Monday by K8 Arkansas News Monday, it was reported that Robert Montgomery captured the moment his daughter Kaylee stopped to help another runner who went down in the final stretch of a race. Kaylee was running the last race of her high school career when she saw another student on the ground. “As soon as I saw her, I just thought, ‘I can’t leave her.’ I was like, ‘I have to help her,’” she said. Montgomery was trying to finish at her personal best, but that was the last thing on her mind when she helped Julia, a runner whose legs gave out just short of the finish line. “I told my parents afterward, ‘Jesus wouldn’t pass me by if I was falling down and couldn’t get up.’ He would pick me up,’” she said… Montgomery said she’ll remember the race forever but said the moment is not about her. “Not that it was me, that it was able to help her, but me showing the light of Jesus and how he’s helped me,” she said. “To show that through my own actions by helping someone else.”

And, you know, when it comes to showing the light of Jesus to a world in desperate need of seeing it, there’s no greater thing that we could ever do than to love others as Jesus loved us. You see, in a world that values self over selflessness, this remarkable love that causes us to consider the needs of others above our own not only sets us apart as followers of Jesus but inspires the lost to seek the One who inspires this extraordinary and otherworldly love— the same love that Jesus showed us when, while were still sinners, He willingly died on a cross to save us from our sins. 

So when given an opportunity to help someone, don’t pass them by my friend. Even if it means forfeiting your own race. After all, our personal best isn’t measured by the time on a clock but by our wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ and our love for one another. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder that our lives are not our own and that everything we do and say should be for your glory. Help us to always put Your will above our will so that by our actions we can love others as you first loved us. It’s in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!