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To call ourselves Christians is a great responsibility that should be carefully thought upon because when we confess Christ we carry with it all of the conviction to love, to care for, to forgive, to lift up, to rebuke, to affirm and to show by our life’s example the example of Him who loved us and died so that we may live eternally. I believe it is time that we each wake up to the realization that our life’s clock is so short compared to the length of forever. Our finite minds can’t fathom the length of eternity because if it could I don’t believe we would act as we act, deal with one another as we do and show such little regard for the wellness of our fellow man. Many times when we see someone in need we think the thought “someone else will come along to help them” because we don’t want to spend the time or take the responsibility to be their brother’s keeper and care for them as we would want to be cared for in our time of need. But is that pleasing to the Lord? Are we shining the light that is within us when we turn a blind eye? The answer is no. Jesus tells us in John 13:35
“By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another.” (1 John 4:7-13) (Luke 6:30-36)
Loving one another means being there for them, lifting them up when they fall, caring for them when they are in need, encouraging them when they fall short and letting them know that we will be there for them no matter how alone they may feel right now. Jesus declares in Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” We have to ask ourselves is that what we have become? Saltless Christians who don’t take the time and don’t make the effort to let their light shine before all men that we may glorify God with our good works? I pray the answer will never be yes because to live in Christ means to live to glorify God and lead all people to the saving knowledge of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross for All mankind. May we each wake up and realize the hour is too late to live selfishly and start making an extra effort to love without motive, to care for and do for others as we would hope would be done for us just the same. (Philippians 1:21-26) (1 John 2:1-6)
I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to be a living witness of love to everyone who comes across your path.
AREN’T THEY ALL OUR CHILDREN?
There are few things in this life more difficult to experience than the loss of one's child. Jim Wallis, in Who Speaks For God tells about a sad and terrifying incident that occurred during the tragic war in Sarajevo not too many years back. A reporter who was covering the violence in the middle of the city saw a little girl fatally shot by a sniper.
The reporter threw down his pad and pencil and rushed to the aid of a man who was now holding the child. He helped them both into his car and sped off to a hospital.
“Hurry, my friend,” the man urged, “my child is still alive.” A moment or two later he pleaded, “Hurry, my friend, my child is still breathing.” A little later he said, “Hurry, my friend, my child is still warm.”
When they got to the hospital, the young girl was gone. “This is a terrible task for me,” the distraught man said to the reporter. “I must go tell her father that his child is dead. He will be heartbroken.”
The reporter was amazed. He looked at the grieving man and said, “I thought she was Your child.”
The man replied, “No, but aren't they all our children?”
I think that is one of the great questions of our age. Aren't they all our children? It is a question that deserves an answer.
Aren't they all our children? Those who live under our roof and those who reside with another family? Those to whom we are related as well as those whom we have never known?
Aren't they all our children? Those on our side of the border as well as those on the other side? Those of our nation no more or less than those of another?
Aren't they all our children? Those who worship like us and those who worship differently? Those who look like us and those who do not?
Aren't they all our children? The well-educated and the under-educated? The well-fed and the under-fed? Those who are secure and those who are at risk?
Aren't they all our children? The highly valued and highly esteemed as well as the castaways and the lost?
Aren't they all our children? Aren't they all our responsibility? ALL of them? Ours to nurture? Ours to protect? Ours to love?
I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that the survival of our world hinges on the answer to that question.
To say they are NOT all our children is to condemn the world to more struggle – family against family, group against group, nation against nation.
Aren't they all our children? If we say yes, can we ever again pit them against each other? “If we have no peace,” said Mother Teresa, “it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
Aren't they all our children?
There may be no greater question for our generation. And how we answer that question will determine the shape of our world for years to come.
By Steve Goodier
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
1 John 2:3-6 “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”
Matthew 25:37-40 Jesus declares “Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
Matthew 5:7-9 Jesus declares “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
1 John 4:10-12 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today's Selected Poem: GOD WON'T ASK
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/enpoem38.htm
Today's Selected Testimony: RESCUED FROM DEPRESSION
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony37.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry |
