As I arrive in the courtyard where I've spent the last months working, a little boy spots me and scoots on his bottom towards me. His legs don't work; years of neglect means he's never had the chance to use his muscles, to practice crawling, running and jumping like most 3-year-olds do. His arms work though, and he holds them out to me, asking to be picked up. I scoop him into my arms – yes, he's wet – and his big brown eyes dance as he opens his mouth wide asking for a kiss. Drool dripping down his chin and teeth black with rot. He's asking me to show him love.  

I have to fight my body's physical reaction, but my spirit immediately understands so much. This little love, made in God's image, deserves all the affection I can give him and more. And at the end of the day, we are so very much alike. 

Jesus love for us is not clean and sanitary. He loved us while we were His enemies (Romans 5:10), while we were dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1). He didn't clean us up first and then embrace us. No, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). 

And this is our example of what love is. We aren't called to clean up the mess first, so that love is comfortable for us. We don't require people to jump through hoops of righteous activity to earn our love. Love is not only for friends, for family, for those who look and act and smell like us. If Christ loved me at my worst, how can I offer anything less to a broken and hurting world?