A comment that Bernadette Gabon made on yesterday’s post really got me thinking and I want to share my thoughts with you today.
I realize that quite a few people who read this do not believe in God, or at least, don’t believe in him in the way that I do but many people who are reading this do and most, if not all of them, will agree with me that there is nothing more important than sharing the gospel.
Jesus was all about compassion. One of his defining characteristics was that he loved and had compassion on EVERYBODY – and he called us to do the same.
The passage I quoted from yesterday (Matthew 25) has Jesus at the second-coming separating ‘the sheep from the goats’. At that time, he turns to one set and congratulates them for feeding him when he was hungry, giving him a drink when he was thirsty, welcoming him in when he was a stranger, clothing him when he was naked, looking after him when he was sick and visiting him when he was in prison.
Those people ask him when they did those things for him. His answer:
“Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me” Matthew 25:40
The other group get banished from his presence because they didn’t do any of those things.
It seems strange to me that the guy who spent his time on Earth telling people to repent and be baptized and who told us to:
“…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20
Would stress so strenuously the importance of doing good things for people. However, as Bernadette so rightly pointed out in her comment yesterday, “By doing this, we are evangelizing.”
You see, if we truly believe that Christ died to save us and that we have been given the free gift of eternal life, we MUST then want to share that with others. We must have the same compassion for others that Christ had, the compassion that drove him to be crucified for our sins, the compassion that gave up everything so that we could have life.
We must learn to see the world the way God sees is, to love the world the way God loves it and to have compassion the way God has it – and then allow that to infuse the very way we act. We need to evangelize by loving people and showing them that God loves them too.
Sponsoring a child in another country is a wonderful way of evangelizing. It’s no good just sending missionaries to TELL people the Good News, Jesus was telling us to go and SHOW them the good news.
What more wonderful example is there of the unconditional love of God than a complete stranger faithfully paying for you to have food, water, healthcare, education and more month in, month out for years? It doesn’t matter what that child has or hasn’t done, whether they ‘deserve’ the sponsorship or what the sponsor can get out of it, it’s a free gift that will change their lives – just like the free gift of salvation that the missionaries will tell them about.
You can evangelize today in a village in a far-away country simply by paying around a dollar a day to bring a child hope and show them the gospel in action.
Here are just some of the agencies you can sponsor a child through:
Again…what a great reminder that it is our duty as Believers to spread the Good News, clothe the naked, feed the hungry and seek the Lost.
This is perfect:
"We need to evangelize by loving people and showing them that God loves them too."
And perfect timing with the Holidays coming….it brings new Light to the money spent on worthless gadgets that will be broken/forgotten about…..to just really take a look at what is going on, "put your money where your mouth is" and taking action. And it doesn't take much. A few years ago, we learned more of the Heifer International program…..I suggested to my children that instead of stocking stuffers, we took the money we would have spent and bought a flock of chicks and a flock of geese for a family (and in turn, a village). My daughter's Godmother heard about it and it really moved her…so last year, she bought a goat for a family in our family's name.
Thanks for spreading such important News, Peter! 🙂
Let them see our good works and then glorify the Father… You are right, Peter. It’s not just ministering to these in need (which is amazingly important) but even those who see what we do and how deeply we love will look to God. Thanks.
A child in need doesn't know about evangelizing.
A hungry child is thankful for the goat that provides milk, the hens that produce eggs, for food that takes away stomach pains. A thirsty child is thankful for clean water that satisfies a parched throat and removes the grime of the day. A child with asthma is thankful for the indoor stove that doesn't require wood to heat the food he eats and thus pollute the room in which he sleeps. A child without clothes is thankful for the warmth that comes even from hand-me-downs. A child who is cared for, who feels loved, is a child who can smile and return love; he is not a child who will not grow up to lob bombs at innocents in a marketplace.
I cannot imagine turning the cheek against the desperate need we know exists just because it could be said to be "evangelizing".
I'm not trying to suggest that we should help the needy 'just' because it is a form of evangelization and I'm sorry if I gave that impression.
It's rather that I'm suggesting that it is a wonderful side-effect of showing love to people that many of us don't think about.
I changed my statement and edited it incorrectly. I meant to write: "A child who is cared for, who feels loved, is a child who can smile and return love; he is not a child who will grow up to lob bombs at innocents in a marketplace."
Good stuff Peter! It seems we keep writing about similar things!
For people to want Christ, they need to see how He has made a difference in us: making us more compassionate and generous, hopefully.
BTW, Bernadette Pabon, not Gabon…