Do you do things that you know you should but grumble in your heart when you do them? How can we show love with our actions? Learn how to put love into action with a grateful heart in this Kids Bible Devotional! Encouraging words for kids when starting their day. Check out our webpage for more Kids Bible devotionals!
“Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity).” 1 John 3:18(AMPC)
Galatians 5:22-23 says love is “joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” We are to love not only with our words, and our understanding of what love is, but we are also to love with our actions with a meaningful motive. We are to practice love everyday, and for our love to come from a grateful heart. We are to show love with actions, and we are to mean it in our heart. We are not to do “love actions” and be grumpy, bitter, or angry about doing them. Otherwise, we sound like brass or a clanging cymbal to God – Yahweh, because we were not thankful in our heart to do loving actions (1 Corinthians 13:1). When we do love actions with a grateful heart the joy of the Lord fills us to keep doing good works out of love.
It’s like a story I read as a child. The mama asked her three children to help her. The oldest child said, “Yes, Mama! I am coming! I will do it!” And then went out to play, never coming in to help. The next child said, “Yes, Mama! I am coming! I will do it!” And did come, but grumbled the whole time helping Mama. The youngest child said, “In a moment Mama! Then I will come!” And though the youngest didn’t come right away like she should have, she did come and she did help Mama with a grateful heart. The point of the story is to do what the Lord leads us to do, and to do it with a grateful heart. Sometimes we may not do the right thing right away, but in the end we should do it.
Have you done something before that was only because you “had to” and not because you wanted to? How did you feel when you did the “had to” work? How did you feel when you did the work you wanted to do?
How can we do the “have to” work with a heart that wants to do it, so it is no longer boring or like a brass gong?
Have you been told to pick up your toys or help a guardian to sweep the floor, and you did it with a grumbly heart? What can you think of to be thankful for about the job to have a grateful heart to do the work?
-The George Family Library Publishing Company
