Fanny Crosby wrote many of the church hymns we sing to this day. In her later years, she visited a rescue mission in New York City. She was asked to speak before a crowd of homeless drug addicts, and the first thing she said was, “Is there a young man in here who doesn’t have a mother?”

One young man timidly raised his hand. He shared that his mother died when he was very young. So Crosby asked the young man to come to the front. She gave him a big hug and kissed him on the cheek. The whole exchange deeply moved her.

It touched her heart so much that she went home that night and wrote the lyrics to her famous hymn, “Rescue the Perishing”…

Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.

Years later, gospel singer Ira Sankey performed that song in St. Louis. But before he sang, he told that story. And as he did, a middle-aged man jumped up and shouted, “It was me! I’m the young man she wrote about.”

Sometimes all it takes is one simple act of love to change a life forever. So display the love of Christ to others – because you never know whose life you may change!

Prayer Challenge:

Ask God to use you to show and share His love every single day!

Questions for Thought:

Think of a time when you needed to be loved and someone met that need. How did it make you feel?

What’s one way you can show the love of Christ to someone else today?