Pets or People: Which will it be?

• 1 John 3:16 (NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

For the Christian, all our relationships with people must be based on love.   However, not just any love.  For example, I have two cats that I love very much: Lucy (the grand old lady of the house) and Zelda.

My relation with both pets is based on love, but it is a love that is “self-focused.”

I love them because of the joy and comfort they bring to me.  This is not bad, it is just not enough – when it comes to humans.

To have a healthy and fulfilling relationship with your fellowman requires a deeper love – a “serving love.”

When your affection and love is based on what people do for you, your love for them is little better than the love you have for a pet.  When your love moves beyond how people make your life better to the level of how you can lay down your life to make their life better, then you move into the highest and most fulfilling kind of love.

Pets or people, which is it for the people in your life?