“What does love mean?” A group of professionals posed that question to a cluster of four-to-eight-year-olds. The answers they got were more profound than anyone anticipated.

An eight-year-old girl wrote, “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So, my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too.

Elaine, a 5-year-old, described love as “when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”

The group of professionals said their favorite definition, however, came from a four-year-old whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap and just sat there. Later, when his mother asked him what he had been doing, the little boy answered, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

Our hearts are touched by the insight these youngsters showed so early in their lives. The children already recognized that true love is unselfish. Already they understood that if you love someone, their need comes before your own.  And they understood that love means you will do what you can to meet that need, even if it costs you.

Those characteristics immediately reminded me of God’s love for us. His unselfish love caused Him to send Jesus from heaven to earth in order to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus died in our place, which cost Him everything. He was willing to suffer for us that we might have eternal life.

The apostle John wrote, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” 1 John 4:10 NLT. Now would be a wonderful time to thank God for His amazing love.