Faith is a wonderful thing to have.
Hope is another.
Yet there is something even greater.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NET) - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Scripture reminds us that love is greater than either faith or hope.
I think that is something of which we need to remind ourselves from time to time.
This is especially true as we reach out to those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus as we have.
Before we attempt to do anything at all for them spiritually, we first need to love them.
Maybe they have put their faith elsewhere.
Perhaps they have no faith in anything other than themselves.
In either case, they need our love all the more.
Let's look at it this way.
What happens when a child comes into the world with badly impaired eyesight or complete blindness?
Won't that child be dependent upon the love of those around him to help him overcome his circumstances?
Won't he require their patience as well?
Can we in any way help a child with impaired vision by treating him harshly?
Will yelling the command "See!" at the top of our lungs help him?
In the same way. we cannot force our belief upon others.
Just as we were free to say, "Yes" to Jesus, they are equally free to say, "No".
As unfortunate as that might be, we cannot drag them kicking and screaming to Him.
We cannot do this no matter how much we want them to believe.
It simply does not work that way and history has proven that time and again.
We must continue to reach out to them because that is what is required of us.
But we must do so with love.
In doing that we keep hope alive.
And when we combine love with hope, we keep open the door for faith to enter.
Remember, Jesus is the one who saves.
Our task is to love them and to make the meeting possible.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com
Hope is another.
Yet there is something even greater.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NET) - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Scripture reminds us that love is greater than either faith or hope.
I think that is something of which we need to remind ourselves from time to time.
This is especially true as we reach out to those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus as we have.
Before we attempt to do anything at all for them spiritually, we first need to love them.
Maybe they have put their faith elsewhere.
Perhaps they have no faith in anything other than themselves.
In either case, they need our love all the more.
Let's look at it this way.
What happens when a child comes into the world with badly impaired eyesight or complete blindness?
Won't that child be dependent upon the love of those around him to help him overcome his circumstances?
Won't he require their patience as well?
Can we in any way help a child with impaired vision by treating him harshly?
Will yelling the command "See!" at the top of our lungs help him?
In the same way. we cannot force our belief upon others.
Just as we were free to say, "Yes" to Jesus, they are equally free to say, "No".
As unfortunate as that might be, we cannot drag them kicking and screaming to Him.
We cannot do this no matter how much we want them to believe.
It simply does not work that way and history has proven that time and again.
We must continue to reach out to them because that is what is required of us.
But we must do so with love.
In doing that we keep hope alive.
And when we combine love with hope, we keep open the door for faith to enter.
Remember, Jesus is the one who saves.
Our task is to love them and to make the meeting possible.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com
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