O What A Savior

What are we here for if not to genuinely reach out and with great compassion and kindness love our neighbor as ourselves? How can we say that we love another person if we are unwilling to give such as we have to help them? If your neighbor needs some flour or sugar there is not problem giving them some, but if they need manpower or to use your equipment; then the excuses start flowing like water.

Why do we insist on placing so many restrictions and stipulations on our love? Genuine love is supposed to be without any conditions. Unconditional love is what allowed each and every one of us to get saved. If God had placed any stipulations on His love to us, none of us would be worthy to receive it. We are to love one another with a pure heart fervently. We strive to manifest the same unconditional love God showered on us on our neighbors.

For most, their love is restricted to those who have given them something. This stipulation of only giving to those who have given to you is descriptive of both “I love you if…” and “I love you because…” God’s love is best described as “I love you in spite of…” As we seek to reach out and honestly help those who need to see the heart of God, we need to manifest the unconditional “in spite of…” love which God bestowed upon us.

Think of your life and how messed up it was before you knew God. Ephesians speaks of being without hope and without God as well as being dead in our sins. Before we allowed God into our lives we were not the most endearing people to be around. We were, in fact, pretty much unlovable. We were selfish, full of pride and only interested in looking out for our own self interests. We were also lost, dead and hard as rocks.

However and whenever He did it, God reached down and managed to break apart our facades and walls we had put up in self defense around our hearts. His love shone through our darkness and succeeded in tenderizing our hearts to the point of willing subjection to His Word and will. Once His love broke thorough, we were His. One thing about God’s love, besides being unconditional, it is relentless.

God relentlessly and unconditionally loved us in spite of our sins and all the horrible things we said and did against Him. God saw past what we did and looked on our hearts and therein He shined the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. When we believed, that light instantly tore apart the ugliness and stubbornness that had previously earmarked our lives. We were changed in an instant of time.

The greatest gift any of us have to give another is our life. When we reach out and share with another person what God has done for us, we are fulfilling the greatest commission of all. Whether we ever speak the gospel or “witness” with Bible verses is not important. What is important is to share with anyone and everyone what God has done in your life. 2 Corinthians speaks of us being “living epistles, known and read of all men". As we live the life God has blessed us with and tell others of all the great things He has done for us; we are epistles that others will WANT to read.

Feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and imprisoned and providing loving support to others in need help open the doors to being able to share our testimony of what God has done for us and can do for anyone. This represents true evangelical outreach. In all the years of going door to door witnessing and standing on street corners passing out tracts, I can think of about three people who ever responded favorably. In all the years of simply reaching out with the love of God and speaking of all He has done and can do I can think of thousands who have come to know the love of God personally in their lives.

What has God done for you? How has God blessed you? In what ways has God touched or changed your life? These are the questions we need to have answers for at the tip of our tongue. Then, as God opens doors of utterance for us through prayer and loving service; we have the witness ready which will glorify God for all He has done and lead the hungry to Him.

Love opens doors, not words. When people see us living the very thing they crave to have in their life, they will listen to what we have to say. Our witness is worthless if we don’t live it. By our fruit we are known and our fruit is what brings others to Christ. May we stay fruitful and allow God to multiply our loving efforts by opening great doors of utterance to us.

Thanks
blessings2you