Look around you. The world, as we know it, is falling apart at the seams. They're drowning themselves in their own desires in a desperate attempt to find real joy and true love. But why? I believe it's because we, as Christians, are failing to be worthy to our calling, a calling that comes straight from God.
Where are we failing? I believe that there are three areas in which we are having trouble: we're having trouble showing love, having faith, and sharing our hope. And since the greatest of these three areas is love, that's what we're gonna talk about today.
God calls us to be united as one body and to love one another. We see a world around us who is looking desperately for true love. And we know where that true love is found-in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We can't understand why they can't see the love that's so obvious to us. I'll tell you why-we don't show true love. We can't expect them to see something that's not there.
But when they look at Christians, what do they see? Do they see a family that loves, that accepts people unconditionally, that wants to help them? I don't think so. I think all too often, they see a bunch of people who argue over the slightest thing, who would rather argue and cause a fuss than to show love, and a bunch of people who won't accept them simply because they're a little different. We, as Christians, are failing to obey our calling.
Our calling is not to change everyone so they fit our little man-made standards of what a Christian should be like. Our job is to show them love and to introduce them to true Love-that found in Jesus Christ. When we've done that, we meet our calling. Jesus will clean them up if there is a true change of heart. To use the "fishers of men" mindset, we need to catch 'em, and let Jesus clean 'em. If we try to change them to fit our own standards before showing them love, then you can betcha they won't be interested. But if we show them love from the only true source, you can betcha that they will be interested.
I encourage you today to show love. Not only to your fellow Christian, not only to your little circle of friends, but to everyone you come across, no matter how different they are than you. Only if we live love will the world be able to see love, and only then will they come to know the saving power of Jesus Christ.