You probably know all about the “Pay Me Back” concept. You give someone five dollars, and they have to pay you back. If someone hits you, you hit them back. If you clean out the dishwasher for your sister, she has to do a chore for you.
God is far more interested in the “Pay It Forward” concept. He’s given peace, love, faith, hope, and joy to you as gifts. There is absolutely no way you can pay him back for all he has done for you. (After all, you don’t give someone money to pay for the birthday gift he or she gave you.) Instead, you take the gifts God has poured into you and share them with the people in your life.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV).
Jesus has given you peace. Pay it forward by helping a friend who is sad. Jesus has given you mercy. Pay it forward by forgiving your friend when he hurts you. Jesus has given you hope. Pay it forward by telling others about the joy that comes from knowing heaven is your real home.
Praise God for the privilege of paying it forward.
