Love me, love others

It's easy to show how you love other people. You can draw your teacher a picture, write your dad a poem or ask a friend to sleep over at your house. You can listen when someone's sad or give a hug to someone who needs one.

But how can you show you love yourself? In this week's Gospel (Luke 16:19-31), Jesus gives us the answer: by doing the very same things.

"A poor man named Lazarus used to sit by a rich man's door, hoping for table scraps to eat," Jesus said. "The rich man never gave him anything. Then both men died, but only Lazarus went to heaven. The rich man begged God, `Send Lazarus to help me!' But God said, `You had good things while you were alive, and Lazarus didn't. Now, he can have them, and you can't!'"

Some kids think loving themselves means being stuck-up. They think they love themselves if they don't share, or if they talk but never listen to other people.

That's what the rich man in the Gospel story thought. He figured he was a great guy because he treated himself well. He saved up lots of money, ate big meals with fancy food, and lived in a huge house. And he didn't bother to share food with poor Lazarus.

But Jesus had another idea about love. He knew that kids who don't share won't have any friends left after a while -- and He knew that the rich man wasn't being loving to anyone, even himself.

People who love themselves have lots of love left over to share with others. The rich man didn't have enough love to get into heaven, but Lazarus had lots to spare. Lazarus was used to giving things up, so God rewarded him with a place in heaven.

When you want to feel loving toward yourself, you don't have to have all the best toys or keep everything to yourself. Instead, try helping someone else. You might learn what Jesus knew: that the best way to learn about love is to watch another person feeling it!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me to help other people! Amen.

(09-24-98) [[In-content Ad]]