Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Romans 12:9 NLT
The older translations of Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” I don’t think any of us wants to pretend or be hypocritical. We want our love to be concrete and real both to us and to those around us. If you want people to connect dots from your life to God’s care, ask regularly …
- Who is lonely?
- Who is exhausted?
- Who is anxious about money?
- Who needs encouragement?
- Who gets overlooked?
When you see that person, take a helpful step in a small, repeatable way. Take whatever action you can to help.
You MUST stay connected to the Source. Trying to fulfill the mission and “represent God well” through sheer work usually gets sour. It either turns into performance or resentment or both. Staying personally connected through Scripture, prayer, community, and worship is vital.
Realize people may not immediately connect the dots the way or at the speed you hope. Don’t quit. Sometimes seeds grow slowly. Your calm, persevering love may be the thing that convinces them years later. Remember, the life that leads to God is most often formed through thousands of ordinary interactions shaped by grace, not a single impressive and dramatic moment. A steady, humble, compassionate person leaves traces everywhere they go. Even small acts done consistently can become deeply memorable to someone else.
Sometimes churches and people will focus on “developing the gift of evangelism” in a few dynamic people. That’s obviously not a sin, but that’s not the way the early church turned the world upside down. They did it through hundreds of ordinary people living like Jesus, really loving others sacrificially and generously, and people connected the dots that led them straight to God.
That’s still the way it happens.
What would happen in YOUR church and YOUR community if all the ordinary people committed to live and love like that? What if everyone’s desire was not to personally be seen, admired, and appreciated but that others would “see Someone through me”? That’s life’s truest and best aim.
- Father may everyone I meet see something, then Someone, in me. Amen.