March 2017 Articles

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Spiritual Corner:

Spiritual Corner: There are few things that I am completely and utterly confident about. I might have some confidence about a few of my skills, but when you measure my skills up against another, that confidence fades a little. The one thing that I am 100% confident about is that there is a God and He loves us all very, very much. In fact, He loved us so much that He gave up His only son to die a cruel death on a cross so that we all might have a relationship with our Heavenly Father one day, if we made the choice. I’m confident about this. I’m also confident regarding the fact that God does not force us to come to Him in repentance, be baptized, and become one of His, walking in obedience. He yearns for us to do this, but He gives us freewill. I am confident of these concepts. I feel like all Christians are confident of these facts. As Christians, we are striving to walk in obedience and do things that are pleasing to our God. We want others to please God as well and we desperately don’t want this world to “go to hell in a hand basket”, at least not anymore than it already has. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. However, sometimes I feel like we need to recheck our motives when dealing with people who are not Christians. Are we preaching to these people because we are so fervent in our beliefs and want to prove that we’re right? Are we condemning them for their actions instead of loving them through their mistakes and leading them to Christ with OUR actions? Jesus ate with tax collectors and other sinners when He walked this earth (Matthew 9:10). He treated them with kindness and respect. He didn’t come down hard on them. He spoke to them in love and shared His story. He showed them the love He had through the way he healed others and welcomed all. In Philemon, verses 8 and 9, Paul makes a statement that I think we could all learn from. He says, “Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love”. Are we so determined to make the world a better place for God, that we are being too bold, perhaps, to the non-Christians of this world? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean we should stop standing up for our Christian beliefs, but there is a difference between shoving our beliefs down another’s throat, and sharing those beliefs through our loving words and actions. We need to appeal to others on the basis of love. Sometimes it could simply be the attitude with which we present our beliefs. Sometimes it could be that we need to support our beliefs through our actions. Maybe we should build a relationship with people, letting them see our actions, before we talk to them more and more about God. Nonbelievers are not going to come to know God through us condemning them or telling them if they don’t believe then they’re going to hell. That will do nothing but turn them away. We have to appeal to them on the basis of love. We need to make sure that we’re not so worried about pushing the Christian agenda, but that we are honestly and truly worried about saving people’s souls. God has shown us in His word that, “He is patient with [us], not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance(2nd Peter 3:9). We need to be patient with the world, not accepting their sins, but loving them through the sins. We need to form friendships with people and serve them, showing them the love of Christ through our actions. We need to appeal to them on the basis of love and pray for them constantly. The LORD is capable of all things and what a blessing it is that He wants to use us to further His kingdom. Let’s model our Christian walk after Jesus and lovingly be fishers of men, seeking to save souls and