“Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.’” Luke 10:4-5 NIV
It starts with peace. Even when we try to reach people who are hostile to the Gospel; it starts with peace. I’m learning it doesn’t start with standing against things. It doesn’t start with letting people know what I hate or what God hates. It doesn’t begin with my list of do’s and don’ts. It doesn’t been with a protest. It begins with peace. The opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people who don’t even know if they want to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ begins with peace.
Recently I was in another city. As I drove down the road to a conference each day I was there, I passed a group of well-meaning believers. They were probably much like people I grew up with. They loved to be with believers. They loved a good hymn. They could probably cook up an awesome potluck! They were most likely very good, honest, God-fearing people. The whole week I passed them, however, I didn’t know this. All I knew was that they had these homemade poster signs telling me what they were against. They even had some signs telling me what God was against. They had words like “HATE” and “HELL” and “EVIL”. Those words were easy to find on the signs.
Missing, at least from my perspective, and probably some of my new unchurched friend’s perspective, were words like “LOVE”, and “HOPE” and “PEACE”. I don’t know, but I suspect if I didn’t know from my personal experience as a believer how good these people probably really are, if I would have thought they had anything I wanted in my life, based on the signs they were holding.
It just made me think…Maybe as believers we have to re-think some of our approaches to people with whom we want to share God’s love.
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Mustard Seed Ministry is reaching around the world with Biblical truths. The ministry is designed to spur the Christian from the smallest amount of faith, onto spiritual growth and maturity. This ministry goes places the church cannot enter. If you would like to support the work of this ministry, send contributions to Mustard Seed Ministry, PO Box 3698, Clarksville, TN 37043, or through Pay Pal (www.paypal.com) to
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