Matthew 5:14-16
James 5:20
Loving lost souls is a great way for us to ignite a flame for Christ.
But let’s be honest:
It is hard to love people who make fun of your faith and don’t want anything to do with you. It is challenging to show grace to people who mock and persecute you. Those that bully you at school or in your community because you’re a Christian. Yet God expects us to love them anyway. The word of God tells us to love one another, including those who despise us.
But what do you do when you want to ignite a flame of Christ in your society? When God is telling you to reach out to such people and share the gospel with them? You will have to rise above the hate and the kind of treatment you get from these people so that you can be able to love them just like Christ loved us while we were yet sinners.
We should not look down on such people like the Pharisees did. We should be like our Lord Jesus, who showed love and compassion to these people. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.
It is through his compassion and acts of kindness that Jesus was able to draw these people to himself and to the kingdom of God. We need to be like our Savior if we want unbelievers to accept Jesus as their personal savior. We need to love the lost instead of judging and condemning them.
Is there someone in your family that has not given their life to Christ? How are you treating that person? Know any students or youth in your church that have not given their lives to Christ? Do you show them love, or are you busy judging and condemning them? Do you show them acts of kindness, or do you point out bible verses about hell to them every chance you get?
The Bible says love covers a multitude of sins. It is only by loving these people that you’re going to be able to do great exploits for the kingdom of God and transform your life and the lives of others around you. See, sometimes you don’t need to preach to people. Most unbelievers are drawn to the kingdom by our actions.
That is why we are called the light of the world and are encouraged to let our light shine in the world. Unbelievers may not listen to you as you preach to them, but they will hold you up to a certain standard and be drawn to you when they realize that you practice what you preach, so be vigilant.
Action:
Find someone in your community or school that does not know Christ, and with the leading of the Holy Spirit, befriend this person. Try to draw that person into the things of God without sounding preachy or judgmental. Ask God for guidance so that you can do it in a way that will cause them to surrender their lives to Christ. Love them by helping them with a problem they have, sharing something they need, or just listening to them as they talk. Sometimes the only Bible some people will read is your actions.