"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."
1 KINGS 14-15
11Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. 12He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. 13He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. 15He brought into the temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
JOHN 1:1-28
9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
JOURNAL
It never stops astounding me—Jesus, the Creator of the world (John 1:10), stepped into his own creation, and the people he came to love and rescue… didn’t recognize him. Worse than that, they rejected him (John 1:11). Ridiculed. Spit on. Betrayed. Accused. Whipped. Crucified. That’s how the world welcomed its Maker.
And yet—Jesus didn’t fight back. He didn’t shut down. He absorbed it all: the hate, the envy, the fear, the violence. Why? Because he loved us. Because he wanted us to experience what he possessed—perfect love from the Father (John 1:14). He didn’t come to earn acceptance, he came to offer it. That changes everything.
It also confronts me. I’ve spent so much of my life chasing achievement, craving approval, hoping that if I did enough, maybe I’d finally feel like I mattered. But Jesus flips that script. He didn’t endure the cross for applause or recognition—he did it out of love, to give something away, not to earn something for himself.
And in doing so, he made a way for us to follow. Like King Asa in 1 Kings 15:11–15, we’re called to be fully committed, even when it costs us something. Asa tore down idols—even confronted family—for the sake of honoring God. Jesus gave everything for the same reason. And he invites us to do the same.
When we live like that—when we surrender our best, even if no one notices—we’re already victorious. The Spirit of Jesus lives in us (John 1:12–13), and that fills our work, our love, and our sacrifices with meaning. Our giving doesn’t drain us—it fills us. Paradoxically, we find joy not in getting more, but in giving all.
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