Writer, speaker and scientist Alister McGrath says that “To love God entails loving what God loves.”

So who does God love?

God loves the emotionally needy.
God loves the braggart.
God loves the one we overlook.
God loves the forgotten.
God loves those who are struggling.

1 John 3:18 says, “let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

That’s why you love the emotionally needy.
That’s why you love the braggart.
That’s why you love the one you usually overlook.
That’s why you love the forgotten.
That’s why you love those who are struggling.

When we think of people who are “needy” we often think of people in extreme situations. And that certainly applies to them. But there are people around you every day in very normal situations—people like you—who need a word or touch of grace.

I know you’re busy. And that some days get away from you. And that some days you get it wrong.

But if someone is hurting, hurting trumps busyness.

That’s part of what it means to be a disciple.

By Matthew Ruttan