I love talking with my Aunt Katherine. She has a passion for missions and evangelism. She lives her Christian life out there on the edge. She’s blunt. You know where you stand with her. She’s authentic.
She is also a woman full of God’s wisdom. I don’t remember what we were talking about one particular day but she made the comment, “Whenever I interact with someone, I need to make it my intentional goal that when I leave that person, they will know unmistakedably that they are loved by Jesus.”
That’s quite a tall order. And yet, I think she is right. This past weekend, I taught my “Yes You Can!” teaching ministry seminar where I repeated many times, “Every moment is a teachable moment” and “Make every opportunity to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.” I made the point that we have so little time with the children we teach; we dare not waste a single moment on trivial and unfocused material.
That’s true in our personal lives as well. We have so little time – we need to make each moment count. It’s not necessarily what we say, but what we do and who we are. One of the most compelling ways we can communicate God’s love is by modeling His grace to others – by going the extra mile in showing people they are importnat to us, by reacting with compassion and kindess, and by overlooking weaknesses and faults instead of pointing them out.It’s like Paul said in his farewell address to the elders at Ephasus in Acts 20:24:. “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Gospel means good news. Grace – the concept that Someone wants to lavish generous love on us even though we don’t deserve it – is definitely good news!
I’m with Paul. My focus in life is to share the evidence of God’s grace with those around me so that, as Aunt Katherine says, there is no doubt in their minds when I leave that Jesus loves them.
As the paraphrase from The Message says, how will you let everyone know about the extravagant generosity of God today?
Leave a Reply