I took this picture in the town of Oyugis, because every other sign on the side of the road had to do with education. Education is very important to the Kenyans and Project 24 and Christ Care for Kids in Kenya have to do with education. Christian Education. Mission work has an impetus in love for the neighbor.
What have the Christian churches in America and around the world done to show love to the neighbor? I am include us in this because repentance should start with us first.
Let us use a definition of love that says that showing love to someone is wanting what’s best for them? Is it being merciful to them? Is it feeding them or working for their rights? Of course, but ultimately in view of the end of all things, it is to give them Christ or bring them to Him.
1 Thessalonians 2:8 says, “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only the Gospel of God but our own lives, too.” Paul says here that he worked hard to not be a burden to the Thessalonians and to be kind to them and serve them as to give testimony to his message of the Gospel. Paul was a very compassionate and generous person, but that alone isn’t love. He did what he did in conjunction with proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to give men what they truly needed: salvation from their sins.
What about our brothers and sisters in the faith? Let’s stick with the definition that says that loving someone means wanting what’s best for them. What is best for a believer: one who already knows Jesus Christ? Paul prays for this very thing in all his epistles. What does he pray for? That they may know Him. These people had already been saved, but the best thing for them is the same as the best thing for an unbeliever: to know Him, to know Christ more fully. To know the riches of His love and the knowledge of His will. A goal and desire for Christians is to be like Christ: to walk in a manner worthy of their calling.
