Christian Living

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Our world today is noticeably self-centered. Both the innate human nature and the pressures of life cause us to focus inwardly, catering to ourselves for the most part. Even though the Christian worldview does shift this perspective, many still find themselves focused mostly on their own needs, problems, and concerns many years after becoming born-again believers. I was one of those. For a long time, my priorities as a Christian were to live right before God and have a good life for myself. I did not pay much attention to the person next door, and whenever I did, it was not on a sustained basis. Over time, however, I have come to understand that God expects more from His children than merely living righteously and being successful. His Word teaches us to give freely because we have received freely (Matthew 10:8). God requires us to be conduits of His goodness, not just occasionally, but all the time.

What should we give? We should give pretty much everything that we receive from God —love, kindness, patience, mercy, good deeds, time, money, wealth, our talents, skills, and more.

Sometimes we assume that our little acts of kindness do not really make a difference to all the suffering in the world. This is untrue. We are lights, the Bible says, and just as one little candle can light the darkness in one part of a large room, our little acts of kindness serve to light the darkness in many corners of the world. Moreover, the collective impact of the lights of many Christians responding to God's call to shine makes a substantial difference to our world.

A minister speaking at a service I once attended shared that a certain journalist who covered natural disasters around the world was astonished to find that whenever he arrived at disaster areas (his team was usually one of the first to arrive at such places), he found Christians already on ground offering help. He and his crew wondered if they would ever get to a disaster zone before Christians, but through the years they did not. Eventually, this journalist gave his life to the Lord and has become a committed Christian. He saw firsthand what difference Christian acts of kindness, which sometimes look small and irrelevant, make!

I encourage us to embrace this aspect of the Christian living as a sustained priority. After all, the Scripture says that "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27 NKJV).
Let's ask God each day for opportunities to be a blessing to people in distress; not with the intention of receiving blessings or praise in return, but with the pure motive of extending God's love.

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