The night air was cold. Frigid cold! In the icy prison cell sat two young Chinese men, emaciated from lack of food and light. They both had only a thin blanket to keep them warm.

The hard floor beneath them was cruel and merciless, and the shackles upon their ankles seemed to mock their pain. Yet in this arctic sanctuary of doom was heavenly warmth.

One of the two young men had a thought.

If that were Jesus next to me, would I give Him my blanket?

This Chinese man, who had but a thin blanket to keep himself warm, recognized the privilege it would be to give what little he had to the God who had given him everything. He removed the blanket from around his shoulders and placed it around the shoulders of his shivering friend.


...As a generation, we have been taught to hold on to our blankets, to secure our future even at the expense of those around us. But we fail to realize that the security of our future rests not in our blanket, but in Jesus sitting next to us. When we choose to give instead of keep, we discover a little taste of heaven on earth. When we choose to let go of what little we have and surrender it to God, it's then we receive the bounty of His kingdom.

...Extravagant love, as in every generation before us, has been ridiculed and scorned. It is seen as wasteful and reckless overspending. But extravagant love, the offering of everything, the emptying of the pockets of our life, is the essence of true Christianity. It was extravagant love that caused Jesus to give up His throne in heaven and give us the gift of life at the expense of His own life. It was extravagant love that compelled the Chinese Christian to sacrifice his only source of warmth for the benefit of his brother in prison. And it would be extravagant love that would cause you to take the blanket off your shoulders today and wrap it around the shoulders of your Worthy King.


-excerpt from When God Writes Your Love Story