Secret Service

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Secret Service by Josh McDowell's Family Devo

LOVE BRINGS SATISFACTION, NOT DEPLETION.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Hebrews 13:1-3.

Verse of the Day: “Continue to love each other with true Christian love” (Hebrews 13:1).

“Wanna do something fun?” Mom asked.

Little Judy nodded her head vigorously. Her older brother and sister were both old enough to go to school, and she was left alone every day with Mom.

“You and I,” Mom whispered, though no one else was home, “are going to be … the Secret Service!”

Judy’s eyes widened. She whispered back to her mom, “What’s that?”

“You’ll see,” Mom said. “Come with me.”

Mom led the way into the kitchen. She explained to Judy that the two of them were going to spend the day doing secret acts of love for other people. And they did.

First, they baked a batch of chocolate-chip cookies, tied them with bright red ribbon in wrapping paper, and placed bundles of cookies on everyone’s pillows—including their own, “To keep the secret,” Mom said.

Judy giggled gleefully as they next tiptoed onto the screened porch of their neighbor’s house and left a bundle of cookies by the door for Mrs. Hastings, the woman who lived alone next door.

Finally, they left a bundle of cookies in their mailbox and sat together on the living room sofa, waiting and watching for the mail carrier to come. When the truck pulled up to their mailbox to drop off their mail, Mom and Judy closed the curtains and looked at each other, smiling and laughing at their “secret service.”

“This is so much fun, Mommy,” Judy said.

“Yes, it is,” Mom said. “Do you know why it’s so much fun?”

“Because … ,” Judy said, thinking. “Because it’s fun!”

Mom smiled again. “That’s right,” she said, “because showing love to others is fun. You see, giving love away isn’t like giving cookies away. You have fewer cookies than when you started, don’t you?”

Judy nodded.

“But,” Mom continued, “when you give love away, you don’t lose anything. You don’t have less love than when you started; you have more!”

“Can we be the Secret Service tomorrow, too?” Judy asked.

Mom nodded. “As long as you’ve got enough love left!”

“I have lots and lots,” Judy said. “More than before, just like you said.”

TO DO: Start your own “secret service.” You might clean a room, color a picture, walk a dog, or send new socks or slippers to grandparents with no return address on the package— whatever you think of. Make it your goal to perform your “secret service” sometime in the next seven days.

TO PRAY: “Lord, you poured out your love by sending your Son, Jesus, to die for us. We want to be generous in our love for others this week.”