Show His Love in Practical Ways

When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don’t pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the Lord your God!

─ Leviticus 23:22 CEV

“Hi Lizzy,” MaryAnn called to her next-door neighbor. “Looks like you’re loading your car with things for the shelter. I’ve got a couple of boxes for you,” she offered as she opened her garage door and pulled a small red wagon with two medium size boxes over to Lizzy’s driveway.

MaryAnn smiled and together they loaded the boxes into her trunk. “It’s often easier to accept the practical things someone really needs before they’re open to conversations about God and His love for them,” Lizzy said. “Giving what they need is often how they see His love in action.”

Often for others to know that God loves them requires more than words. Offering practical help and meeting some of the simplest needs demonstrates love – His and yours. Leviticus 23:22 provided instruction for farmers to help those in need find food. The farmers were to leave some of the harvest behind so the poor would be provided for.

This practice is also mentioned in the book of Ruth chapter 2. Boaz allowed the widow, Ruth, to gather food in his fields, giving them practical help in their time of need.

There are people all around us who could use a little help. With the love and compassion of our Heavenly Father, you can make a difference.

Today’s One Thing

Ask the Lord to show you how He would have you offer practical help to others. There are simple ways besides volunteering and donating. Perhaps you already know a neighbor or friend who you could help by cleaning their home, cook food for them, run errands, offer them a lift, make them a care package, babysit, pet sit or house-sit during a tough season in their life.

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