In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, please look over those people who have been affected by Hurricane Ike over the weekend. Bless them and keep them safe. Many areas are without power and several have no home to go back to and are struggling to find basic necessities of life such as food. May these people find strength by turning to you during this difficult time and touch the hearts of those who have not been effected so that we do all that we can to comfort those in need. We ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
As good Christians, we have a responsibility and an obligation to make it a lifelong quest to know our faith well and share its truths with others. We should strive for Christian unity. Jesus established one church and although it is now been divided several thousand of times, we all believe in the same, one God. We can contribute to Christian unity through prayer, study of our faith, communication with other denominations and religions, and through cooperation. Remember in one of my previous posts that we must do all things with love. Acting as if one is superior to another is not the correct way to spread the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We do not have the ability to offer salvation to others, but we do have the ability and responsibility of leading all towards salvation: towards Jesus Christ. Only through God can we be saved, but we can help lead people to Jesus. We must do this. Since humans have been given the gift of free will, we can not force people to accept God. We are not to slam a bible over someone's head. We can quote scripture all day, but if we do not teach with love in our hearts we will not be able to lead people to God. What we as Christians must do is to provide others every opportunity to accept, know and love God.
We are on this earth to prepare ourselves so that we may be worthy to enter the kingdom of Heaven AND to help lead others toward that same goal. In order to do this, we must first educate ourselves and continue to educate ourselves in our faith. We are on a lifelong journey toward Heaven and this requires constant work to better ourselves. We must be an example that others can see and want to follow. It reminds me of the church hymn that includes the line, "They will know we are Christians by our love." This is very true. If we live good Christian lives, our great happiness and joy should shine brightly to others. Everyone is searching for happiness, but many never truly find it. This is because they don’t know and love God, who is the very source of happiness. Christians know that they don't need "things" to be happy, but our happiness comes from the fulfillment and joy stemming from a life of service to God and to others. Our example of service to God and others is a good start for us to begin our lifelong responsibility to lead others and keep ourselves focused on God.
Simply living a selfless life is not enough. We must look for opportunities to evangelize and act when those opportunities present themselves. We don't evangelize by force but through love. Remember that evil can only triumph in the world if good people do nothing. It is not enough to know what is right and wrong. If we see something that is wrong and we do nothing, we are responsible for the sins of others since we knew they were wrong and did nothing. We must take action and be an active participant in important decisions in the work place, in our homes, and on the streets. We must live our lives not simply stay alive. We have every reason to live our lives with passion and enthusiasm because we know that through God we can be saved. This is a wonderful thing! If we keep these things in mind, people will come in droves to see what it is that makes us such a happy and loving group of people. They will come in droves to learn the Truth. They will come in droves seeking to know, love and serve the Lord and one another. They will come and it is our duty to lead them toward that understanding. We are to love God and our neighbor above all other things. Do all things with love and in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and people will follow. God bless!
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