So, my church is finally done with convocation it's been about a week since it's been over. I feel as if I gained alot of good beneficial information to apply to my life as a christian. I learned more about being an evangelistic and compassionate christian towards anyone. More importantly, I learned how we should act towards others when witnessing, how to show love, not to judge another person when they testify what god has done in their life and i've learned not to judge when a person has fallen and committed a sin(s). I have also had friends along the way to help me change my perspective about certain situations in life especially as a christian. Sometimes as a christian you just have to live your life for christ's sake even if it's sometimes uncomfortable. If being in uncomfortable situations or with uncomfortable people is what it takes to save certain individuals then so be it. We have to put on the armor of God and endure the situation or trial God has placed in your (our) life. The most important steps for looking beyond an individual is Love. God expressed this alot in the bible. I Cor. 13: 1-4 talks about Love and he also expresses how charity or love is the greatest commandment. When you think about it, God gave up his life for us because he loved us and because he did not want anyone to perish. It does not matter what you have done in life (it does not matter what type of sin you have committed) God loves you and he wants you to be saved and have a relationship with him. Sin is what separates us from God, in order to establish that broken relationship to be whole again, you must repent (be sorry for your past sins or sins present), be baptized (fully immersed in water), and receive the gift of the holyghost (the presence of god inside of you). As Christians, when you have done what you needed to do to be saved, God requires even more from us to share the gospel to every creature from Mark 5. What God did for us on the cross is not limited to certain individuals or people, it's for everyone on this entire earth who desire to know the Lord and for those who want to establish a relationship with him and want to start over with him. You have to have your mind made up that the sinful lifestyle you lived before you were saved is completely over and not turn to that sinful nature again. You have to truly be sorry for the sins you have committed, so that you can continue having the right relationship with God. God requires alot from us christians. So, as christians here is how you can attract others to being save:
1. Read and remember this verse: Leviticus 19:8 : Love your neighbor as thyself. Treat others the way you love yourself. Show them respect, love, and care for others and be selfless (not about yourself, be unselfish). This is the way we chrisitians must love others whether that be family, work/employees, people at church, school, friends, enemies, people on the streets, nursing homes, ...etc. It doesn't matter where you are. Follow the motto here: Love God and Love Others. 2. You can't be prejudice against people who are different from you whether that be race/color (black, white, latino, mexican, chinese, mixed races, ...etc), homosexuals, drug addicts, alcoholics, atheists, homeless people, fornicators, murderers, people that are hard to get along, people in jail, witchcrafts, pornographers, pedophilers, hookers or whores, adulters/adultresses, rich/poor, social status, economic status, educational status, teen pregnancies... etc. We must meet people where they are and tell them the goodness of Jesus. We must show love and look beyond people's problem or circumstances because Jesus did just this. We can't be a hearer of the word, we must be doers. Do what you preach. We must witness to anyone. Everyone is precious because they have a soul that needs to be saved and God values every soul in the world. His love is deep and our love should be deep for everyone who needs to be saved. See salvation as God does. So, yes as Chrisitians we must witness, do things for our community and etc, and we must love others like Christ does. We must love the sinner, but hate the sin. Remember this: Love covers a multitude of sins.
3. Do not judge them. If you judge them and what they have been through your witness will not be effective. ( You can judge a person by giving them a disdainful or non-approving look, making comments, or just based on our actions, gossiping..etc.) And these things should not take place in church or beyond the church but they do and they should not. God did not look down on those he saved and he does not do this for those that need to be saved. We must learn to be non-judgemental.
And before I end this blog, I want to introduce a book i've been reading for my church's vacation bible school that we will have in about a week and a half. I actually started reading this book last night and a little bit more today. I will be reading this book throughout the rest of this week, so I can finish up before July 29-Aug.2, 2013 because that's when our VBS at my church will convene. So, without furthur a do, I will now introduce the book, it's called, "Beyond Your Backyard: Stepping Out to Serve Others by Tom Ellsworth. I want to mention this quote that helped me to have this perspective that God wants all christians to have: "There is no room in God's Kingdom for bias or prejudice. One color is not more desirable than another. One race is not more loved by God nor more needed in the church nor more anticaipated in Heaven: It makes no difference whether you are white or black; female or male; rich or poor; formally educated or experienced educated; handsome or ugly or pretty or ugly; handsome or homely; popular or unpopular; republican, democrat, libertarian, or politically fed up! In this world we all would be lost without a Savior. pg. 67-68. And I would like to add to this: We (Christians or anyone in general) are not better than anyone else in this world because we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6. We must have faith that God can save all or that one individual that we want saved or witnessed to. Also remember this: We (Christians must love the unlovable-those we think that should not deserve love; need love the most). We also must remember that we were once unlovable before we were saved and we must keep this in perspective when we deal with people that are not saved. And, one last thing I learned from this book was this quote here to keep in perspective, we chrisitans or anyone in general do not have the right to judge because it also can water down our witness or who we are as christians (those that represent Christ) people can be confused if we act like a hypocrite. So remember this quote from this book as well and it's found on pg. 69: We don't need someone to remind us of our stupidity; we are painfully aware of our mistakes. What we need is someone to help us out of our misery and care for us despite our dumb decisions. It's not about you, me, or pleasing people, We (christians) should be pleasing God; and doing about our father's business. God is the judge of all; those that judge will be judged back in the same measure Matthew 7:1-2 says so. So, remember all this valuable information loves and have a blessed day. If anyone would like to add to this wonderful blog topic, you can leave comments below.
