Conversation with an Officer Part II

"I loved being in Afghanistan with my troops because we concentrated on the war and all of the politicking, posturing, and elbowing for attention and positions when we are at home (peace-time) was non-existent." This was a paraphrased quote from an officer who recently returned from a 6 month tour overseas. This comment got me thinking about the body of Christ (Christians). How many times do we forget we are in a war but we live our lives like we're in peace time. We are worried about who gets the notoriety; who gets the prophetic word; who gets to hang out with the pastoral staff; who gets..., who gets..., who gets...!!! We forget we are in a battle and our adversary isn't people but a devil who wants to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).

We get so out of focused on our calling as Christians. Jesus left us with two basic commandments: to love Him with everything we have and to love people like ourselves. I personally don't like being badgered into believing someones opinion. I don't like being embarrassed publicly for not acting a certain way (neither do most of you reading this blog). We expect people to treat us with respect and if we don't get that treatment we get turned off by the person violating our "space." However, if you approach me with love & concern, I'm all ears because I sense you have my best interest in mind when confronting me with a problem. Why should we expect the people that haven't made a decision for Christ to listen to us Christians when they can measure our love for them in a "thimble." My question is: ARE WE REALLY CONCERNED THAT THESE PEOPLE WILL SPEND ETERNITY AWAY FROM THE LORD. My answer is yes and if yes, I must ask: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO. Jesus would love them with an everlasting love. He would meet their physical and spiritual needs. He would hang out with them and not be afraid of there questions, lifestyle, or appearance.

Our fight as Christians is to extend the Kingdom of God. His kingdom is filled with righteous, peace, and joy. The very essence of His kingdom is LOVE! Let's remove the peace time mentality from our lives and embrace the fact that we are in a battle for souls. God will give you strategies for reaching people who aren't in His Kingdom.