God's Love Makes Us Alive
This became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. (Acts 9:42)
While Peter was visiting a group of Christians in Lydda, a believer by the name of Tabitha (or Dorcas) died. Tabitha had done many charitable things for the church. She had faithfully supported its work and helped those who were in need. When she died, many of the believers in Joppa went to see Peter in Lydda, which was nearby. When Peter came to Joppa, he prayed for Tabitha, and God brought her back to life. Because of this miracle, many people believed in Jesus and became Christians. They saw the love that Tabitha had shown to their community, the love that the saints and widows had shown for Tabitha, and the love that Peter had for this group of Christians. And all of this love was shown because of God’s love shown to them.
As friends of Jesus, we too have opportunities to show God’s love in us. We have been given opportunities to help those who are in need like Tabitha did. When we see those in need, we can show God’s love for them by helping them in their need, and as we do that we can tell them about the love that God has for them. We do this because God has helped us with our biggest need. Our sins had taken control of us. They had spiritually bankrupted us. We were dead in sin. But God sent his Son, Jesus, to raise us back to life. Through baptism, he does this. And now, we can go and share the life-giving message of the gospel with those who are still dead in sin. This is how we can show God’s love that we have received to others. Amen.
The song for today is “Love of God” by Mercy Me