"LOVE ALL AROUND THE WORLD"
Friends, this is our mission! We are commissioned by God to spread HIS LOVE all around the world. We aren't just called to Love the lovable people. No, He set the bar higher than that for us.
Jesus has called us to Love our enemies. It's in our Love that we express God's Love, who loved us BEFORE we loved HIM. He loved us while we were still His ENEMIES!
When I was in my 20's and 30's, I was God's enemy. At the time, I thought we were close! I had NO idea I was His enemy.
So we need to remember, we were once God's enemy and He expects us to Love HIS and OUR current enemies the same way He LOVES us.
1 Peter 3: 15 - 20, tells us exactly HOW to spread God's love all around the world. He says to, "always be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you for a REASON for the HOPE that is in you." So we really need to be making ourselves READY and KNOW exactly what we need to say, to explain the HOPE we have in JESUS. If we feel unconfortable doing so, WE NEED TO ponder that and write it out and practice reciting it to someone, friends or family.
Then Peter tells us exactly how to minister to unbelievers. He says we need, 1. MEEKNESS, 2. FEAR, 3. WE NEED TO HAVE A GOOD COINCIENCE, 4. GRACE, 5. TO SEASON WITH SALT.
1.MEEKNESS
A lot of people misconstrue this word. In Matthew 5: 5, Jesus uses the word "Meek," in the biblical sense of POWER UNDER CONTROL. He was the perfect example of that. He was kind, gentle, very patient and very loving. Matthew 11:29 - 30, JESUS SAYS, "Learn of me, for I AM MEEK and lowly in heart." So our treatment towards others should be KIND, TENDER, COMPASSIONATE and HUMBLE when ministering.
2. FEAR - Think to yourselves, when was the 1st time you remember reading about someone in the Bible having FEAR? Moses with Pharoah? Daniel in the lions den? Joseph, when his brothers left him for dead?
It was Adam in the garden of eden. Adam told God, he was afraid because he knew he and Eve were naked. Fear is the natural consequence of sin. Titus 2: 14, Peter says to, "conduct ourselves in fear. Knowing that we were ransomed from our bad conduct by the BLOOD OF JESUS." Think about this, "The fear of man and evil are dangers to be avoided, from which the fear of God delivers." IDK who said that, makes sense to me.
3. GOOD CONCIENCE - Proverbs 20: 27, says the Lord has given us a mind and a conscience, so we cannot HIDE from ourselves. A healthy conscience is one that is CLEARED of offenses toward God and man. It gives us BOLDNESS and CONFIDENCE in the Christian believers life. It keeps us going strong in times of storms and persecution.
4. GRACE - I believe all of us understand and know GRACE, as God's kindness, His gracious generosity, and His undeserved favor and spiritual blessings. Ephesians 2: 8 - 9, Paul says, "for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, lest any man should boast." So in turn, NO ONE CAN EARN OUR GRACE. I believe Jesus expects us to bestow it to others, FREELY, as it is given to us.
5. SALT - We Know Salt preserves food and adds flavor. Mathew 5:13, Jesus called for His FOLLOWERS to "be the SALT OF THE EARTH. If the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?"
We don't want to be like the popular churches, neither HOT nor COLD. There's no SALT, not enough FLAVOR, and not enough PRESERVATIVES to PERSEVERE against the evil forces of darkness. The Church was and is called to preserve mankind.
Jesus's point in talking about salt losing its flavor, is that if we lose our God-given USEFULNESS, then we are unhealthy to the kingdom and to God's work in the world.
Our BEHAVIOR and BELIEF in JESUS, distributed around the world, help to PRESERVE HUMANITY from falling into GODLESSNESS, IMMORALITY, CHAOS and the resulting JUDGEMENT from it.
I want to end with this because this is OUR MISSION:
Would somebody please pass the SALT?
Charlotte Ann Davis
