According to the world population clock there are 7,127,160,367 people living in this world as of July 4, 2013. In that number is you and me, your neighbors, your peers, your friends, your family, the gas station attendant, your supermarket cashier, and billions more! They come from many countries, different languages, variety of cultural traditions, from white to mocha to black skin colors, all with a unique and complete originality about them. Each one of these people desire one thing in common, pure love. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are told that people will see the love of God when they observe how we, as Christians, love one another. What makes us stop loving one culture from the next? Why do we passionately love, care, and bless those with the same language or same church name or same denomination or even same Bible college name yet find things inside our heart that has no compassion for an impoverished family in a different region or a church leader in a different denomination or a young person who dresses and speaks in unrecognizable tones to you?
Unconditional Love
I am so happy that Jesus did not love me because I belonged to a denomination or a seminary but loved me unconditionally with an everlasting love. The Bible teaches us that Christ loved you and me when were yet still sinners! Hallelujah! Jesus saved me, became my best friend for the pure love of God was in Him. It moved His heart with compassion to serve a world that failed to show mercy, kindness, and love. Jesus teaches us how to love ALL the world!
What has happened to us as followers of Jesus Christ that we have become so divided, prejudice, and self-serving? We have denominations and affiliations that keep order and structure yet draw lines in the sand to determine are these outside folks or churches or organizations "clean" enough to shake hands with. We pretend to love the world and the world sees our disguise. Thousands of church leaders and pastors have fallen prey to hurtful discouragement and wounds because we see a microscopic vision of God's love. We want to love those that adore, love, and respect us. However, Jesus reminded us we receive our reward already here on earth if we only love those who do the same in return. As Christians we have become unresponsive to our selfish motives and we need the unconditional love and grace of the precious Holy Spirit to move us to love people who desperately are seeking it in this world of sin and hurt.
Break Pride via Servant-Humility
Masking your pride and conceit will only lead you to a dungeon of despair and personal torment. Have you ever met a Christian person or leader who wreaked from pride all over? You could smell it in the dialogue, in the careless attitude towards you, and in the selfish wants not needs they had for themselves for you to do. How do we break this in our generation? We must learn to be humble and servant minded to ALL people. That means praying for ALL types of people, caring for them, befriending them, genuinely having a heart felt conversation and not just the regular "God loves you" Christian slogan. Get personal with people and let them SEE the love of God. It is time we stop our endless meetings and start conversations with real people that need real help from the real source which is Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit!
I challenge you to inventory your circle of relationships and ask yourself the following:
Do I love them mostly because they love me?
Do I initiate friendships or do I wait for the friend to come to me?
Can I love every nation, every people, every race?
Jesus, examine my motives inside my heart and teach me by your Holy Spirit to love ALL people!
Twitter: @PaulMuzichuk
Unconditional Love
I am so happy that Jesus did not love me because I belonged to a denomination or a seminary but loved me unconditionally with an everlasting love. The Bible teaches us that Christ loved you and me when were yet still sinners! Hallelujah! Jesus saved me, became my best friend for the pure love of God was in Him. It moved His heart with compassion to serve a world that failed to show mercy, kindness, and love. Jesus teaches us how to love ALL the world!
What has happened to us as followers of Jesus Christ that we have become so divided, prejudice, and self-serving? We have denominations and affiliations that keep order and structure yet draw lines in the sand to determine are these outside folks or churches or organizations "clean" enough to shake hands with. We pretend to love the world and the world sees our disguise. Thousands of church leaders and pastors have fallen prey to hurtful discouragement and wounds because we see a microscopic vision of God's love. We want to love those that adore, love, and respect us. However, Jesus reminded us we receive our reward already here on earth if we only love those who do the same in return. As Christians we have become unresponsive to our selfish motives and we need the unconditional love and grace of the precious Holy Spirit to move us to love people who desperately are seeking it in this world of sin and hurt.
Break Pride via Servant-Humility
Masking your pride and conceit will only lead you to a dungeon of despair and personal torment. Have you ever met a Christian person or leader who wreaked from pride all over? You could smell it in the dialogue, in the careless attitude towards you, and in the selfish wants not needs they had for themselves for you to do. How do we break this in our generation? We must learn to be humble and servant minded to ALL people. That means praying for ALL types of people, caring for them, befriending them, genuinely having a heart felt conversation and not just the regular "God loves you" Christian slogan. Get personal with people and let them SEE the love of God. It is time we stop our endless meetings and start conversations with real people that need real help from the real source which is Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit!
I challenge you to inventory your circle of relationships and ask yourself the following:
Do I love them mostly because they love me?
Do I initiate friendships or do I wait for the friend to come to me?
Can I love every nation, every people, every race?
Jesus, examine my motives inside my heart and teach me by your Holy Spirit to love ALL people!
Twitter: @PaulMuzichuk
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