I read an article from “Christianity Today,” titled “The Craziest Statistic You’ll Read About North American Missions”. In this article it was stated that in the U.S. and in Canada that one out of five non-Christians do not know any Christians.
A response to this may be that we would say that we know many non-Christians and try to slough it off and move on without a thought, but the question was asked to the non- Christian, not the other way around. One might even say that it does not apply to our community, like we are any better than any other community. That would of course make us feel better. We have TV stations, radio stations, and even newspapers to reach the community with a “Jesus loves you”.
It has been said that the U.S. has given more to missions than any other nation, and sent out more missionaries than another nation. These facts are a good pat on the back, but many of our neighbors are still wondering why we pack our fkIamilies in the car every weekend and go to church. They think that it is just a thing you do and because they don’t see a difference in the way we live our lives. We American Christians have many of the same things that we chase in life. Cars, houses, boats, even everyday food or anything that keeps us from loving God with all our hearts, minds and souls.
Remember the greatest commandment in Mark 12:29, 30, 31 Jesus said, “The most important commandment is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” This simple commandment would reach our community with the love of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ message reaches beyond race, denomination or any other divider.
First we need to know who God is, then we need to know who we are in relation to God and then we need to know our neighbor is. With knowing all these things we can receive love from God and give it back to him and through the love that he gives we can love our neighbor as ourselves.
The kind of love that Jesus spoke about is a selfless love that cannot come from us; it can only be a gift we receive from him. Jesus said, “we have not because we ask not”. Love for neighbors or friends and family has to be received from God as a gift.
Love is not free. There is a cost that Jesus paid and it will cost us to share that love with people around us. Count the cost make the choice to tell someone that “Jesus loves you”.