Years
ago, when our Father began to free me from legalism and sin, I had such
an incredible desire to love other people that often I would pray,
"God, please love someone through me today". You see, God does not heal
us and free us only for us to have peace. He frees us so we can love
people! If you believe in grace, yet it has not produced a desire and
ability to love people, you may be falling short of the grace of God.
Galatians 5:13 (MSG) says, "It is absolutely clear that God has called
you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as
an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom to
serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows."
Recently, I was on the phone with my cell phone provider working on a
technical issue with Kimberly. As we waited for my phone to "reboot",
she began to tell me that she lived in Colorado where they were having a
number of fires due to the summer drought. She went on to say that she
lived not too far from where the gunman had killed and injured all of
those innocent people in the movie theater. I sensed the Lord wanted me
to ask her if she would have gone to heaven if she had been one of
those killed in the theater. As it turned out, she was a Christian who
was experiencing deep hurt in her marriage. She seemed delighted for me
to refer her to one of our affiliate offices near her for counseling
but I also told her if it did not work out to please call our office at
704-522-9026. We offer Skype counseling and phone counseling. In the midst of trying to take care of a cell phone problem, God had
another agenda. He wanted to love a lady in Colorado through me who
needed to know her Heavenly Father was pursuing her.
I have observed Jesus living through my wife, Ellen, in many similar
situations. She loves people, especially those outside of Christ, so
unconditionally that more often than not, she is able to share with them
how to become a Christian and most of them do. Her relationship with
them is so authentic that they are very open to her when she broaches
the subject of the God who loves them.
Most days, the people He wants us to love are already all around us in
our families, jobs, neighborhoods or churches. I wonder what would
happen if we prayed each day for God to love someone through us? Oh, we
would still work hard but who knows what incredible impact that would
make in our world. Wouldn't we all like to have people around us who
were asking Jesus to live through them to love us? Then we look for
opportunities to do that? That would be heaven on earth!
How about you? Would you be willing to ask Jesus to live through you
to love someone each day? If so, I think you will be pleasantly
surprised!
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding
