Love is the key, not the lock.

In Matthew 24:10-14 Jesus tells of the ending times. He says that during this time there are going to be problems, but then he goes into this interesting dissertation:

10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The thought he shares is interesting to me because he says the Gospel will be preached. He doesn't command us to go and preach it, he says it will be a by product. I think many pastors and well-meaning people tell Christians to go and make disciples. In the process, many of them get this thought that THEY have to go and MAKE people believe. That they somehow have to win these friends with the sole intention of getting them to convert.

Jesus tells us in a different gospel that we should be identified as followers by our love. John 13:35- "BY this ALL men will know that you are my disciples: If you have love for one another. "

A great thought, but the reality of life is that many of us are just trying to survive in our own lives, let alone trying to witness to people and to make friends. But Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom he's building has nothing to do with proselytizing, but everything to do with Love. Love people. Love them enough that they know who you are and what you are about. Let your love for God be so evident that it spills over to every area of life. When you do that, you begin to see people change. Witnessing is good but is ineffective against an altogether over-indulged, over engaged, and overly complacent America. Love is not the problem, its the solution..

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Analyst's view of Luke pt. 3

Luke 1:21-38 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. 23 So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary 26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”[a] 29 But when she saw him,[b] she was troubled at his sayi
Read more

My daddy

In this world where so many are fatherless, many are frustrated and angry at their fathers, I want to take a few moments to talk about my dad. My dad was a fighter! When I say fighter I don't mean that he fought for money, or was in the Army. What I mean is that my dad fought many problems. He fought long days to provide for our family, he fought the attitudes my siblings and myself had towards him. He fought rejection, he fought loss, he fought being without a job, he fought the end of our church, he fought so much. It would be easy to look back at one of those areas and say, "Dad you didn't do enough!" It would be easy to look back at the long days he spent trying to provide for us away from us; a task that I cannot fathom at the present. Why do I bring this up? Why did I talk about him? The biggest reason is that today he embarks on perhaps the biggest journey of his life. He leaves for a 6 month job. A job that will take him THOUSANDS of miles away from his wife,
Read more

Lead like Jesus

but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great  millstone  fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. - Matthew 18:4 but Jesus said,   “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  - Matthew 19:14 These two verses make it abundantly clear to me that Jesus' mind is focused squarely on the children. In fact, Jesus makes it clear to us that if we mess with Children's access to God, we have some serious consequences awaiting us.   We see these verses and my mind immediately jumps to what we see in the present day. Lawmakers, teachers, activists, and people who are NOT you are trying to dramatically change your children. I get the understanding that interrupting children's access to Jesus is a big deal.  Jesus mentions that we shouldn't infringe, impact, or worst of all, cause a little one to sin. But what we see is quite the o
Read more