A Word for Our Arbor Family
Sometimes I find my heart doesn’t resemble Christ’s heart for the lost. At any given moment, my attention, resources, and time are pulled in so many directions. (You can probably relate.) With so much commotion around us and many expectations pressing against us, it is tempting to allow our focus to wander and quietly let evangelism slip into the background. We begin to see the condition of individuals as one BIG problem that we couldn’t possibly hope to put a dent in. So we busy ourselves with all of the things that seem to beg for our attention, allowing the individuals to go unnoticed.
So, I have an odd yet effective method I use to test whether I am truly operating in Christ’s love for each lost person. It is how I realign my heart to match His: I ask myself, “What if this individual were one of my girls?” What if, instead of being born into a home where they would know the love of God, my daughters were born into an unbelieving home… Would I try to reach them? What if my girls were somewhere overseas, lacking food, love, or other types of care and provision… Would I send help to meet their needs? What if they had been abused… Would I make myself available to reach out to them... to draw them to the One who truly heals? My answer is an instantaneous “YES! Of course, I love them!"
When I consider my response if these were my children, the excuses fade away, and a passionate urgency builds in their place. I don’t want to wait for a more convenient time, a more financially easy season, or a less difficult day. I must go now! These are my kids!
This is our Father's heart for the lost.
Next week, we will host over 125 kids for Vacation Bible School. As we look over all of their little faces, I know God will do what He always does... He will pour His love into our hearts so that we can love them as He does.
This is evangelism... this is discipleship… as if they were our own.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."
Ephesians 1:5
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
Romans 10:14-15
So, I have an odd yet effective method I use to test whether I am truly operating in Christ’s love for each lost person. It is how I realign my heart to match His: I ask myself, “What if this individual were one of my girls?” What if, instead of being born into a home where they would know the love of God, my daughters were born into an unbelieving home… Would I try to reach them? What if my girls were somewhere overseas, lacking food, love, or other types of care and provision… Would I send help to meet their needs? What if they had been abused… Would I make myself available to reach out to them... to draw them to the One who truly heals? My answer is an instantaneous “YES! Of course, I love them!"
When I consider my response if these were my children, the excuses fade away, and a passionate urgency builds in their place. I don’t want to wait for a more convenient time, a more financially easy season, or a less difficult day. I must go now! These are my kids!
This is our Father's heart for the lost.
Next week, we will host over 125 kids for Vacation Bible School. As we look over all of their little faces, I know God will do what He always does... He will pour His love into our hearts so that we can love them as He does.
This is evangelism... this is discipleship… as if they were our own.
“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."
Ephesians 1:5
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
Romans 10:14-15