Luke 6:32 says if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?

Human beings have the tendency to love those who love them. It is easy to love those who love us or who are good to us. But Jesus teaches us to love those who do not love us.

We need to have the courage to love and accept all kinds of people around us. And this is possible only when we have Jesus in our hearts.

Here is an activity that can be done with children to think about the courage to love.

Materials required:

1. Different colours of craft papers, including red and white
2. Pencil or marker
3. Scissors
4. Glue

Steps:

1. Draw and cut a big heart with red coloured craft paper.
2. Draw and cut a cross with white coloured craft paper. The cross should fit inside the heart.
3. Cut small circles from other colours of paper. Draw faces on them with different expressions. (These circles represent different kinds of people we have around us: some are sad, some happy, some angry.)
4. Glue the cross inside the heart. (Represents the presence of Jesus in our hearts.)
5. Glue the different faces inside the heart.

This heart picture will help us to understand that we can love and accept different kinds of people in our lives when we have the love of Jesus within us.

—contributed by Amita Siddh, Rajnandgaon Mennonite Church, Mennonite Church of India