Ephesians 1:15 – 16 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to be thankful for the faithful, loving people in your life? Have you noticed how easy it is to want to pray for those people? These are the people that help you when you are in trouble. Therefore, you want to help them. These people make you feel special and wanted and loved, so you try to return the favor. It’s easy. You love them and pray for them because they are easy to love, easy to pray for.
But unfortunately, we all have the other kinds of people in our lives as well. You know who I’m talking about. Those people. The ones who don’t love you, or at least they don’t show it very well. The ones who are unkind, gossipy, unreliable, and mean. These are the people who don’t exhibit the lovely qualities that should be present in those who have placed their faith in Christ.
The point I make, friends, is not to encourage you to make lists of people you like and people you don’t like. Rather, we all need to ask ourselves: Which list am I on? When people think of me, are they thankful for me? Or does my name bring to mind a sense of discomfort and dread?
It should be our goal, as Christians, to display faith and love in every area of our lives. It should be our goal to display that love so boldly in our lives, that every person we meet feels it. When others are around us, they should feel wanted. Loved. Needed. Special. After all, that is the way Christ feels about us. He loves us beyond measure, and we should love others the way that He loves us.
But when we are unkind, when we gossip, when we are mean and judgmental, we hurt others. But we hurt ourselves more! For when we fail to display Christ’s faithfulness and love in our lives, other people don’t want to be around us! They forget to pray for us, because they’d rather not think about us at all. They certainly aren’t thankful for us – why would they be? When they see us coming, they go the other way.
It is my goal, dear friends, to love so well and so much, that others are thankful that I’m in their lives. It is my goal to display my faith so beautifully that when others see me, they see Christ. I appreciate your prayers for me as I try to reach that goal.
And just one last thing: I am thankful for you, dear readers. I pray for you daily, and I’m so glad you are part of my life.
Dear Father, Please help me to exhibit faith and love in my life, so that those around me will be drawn to YOU.
Amen
R – You do love well! You’ve loved on me with tons of encouragement, and I am so glad that you are in my life via cyberspace!
Alyssa,
Right back at ya!
🙂 –r
Another fantastic post, and lots to think about. I, too, want to be the kind of person that people are thankful to know.
M.C. – based on the posts I’ve read, you’re doing a fantastic job! 🙂
–r
Thanks, Renae, an excellent reminder to display gentleness in our dealings with others, even when we have to deliver some hard truths.
This is a continuing lesson for me.
Love,
Jlo
Hi Renae,
I would like to Thank You for taking time out of your evening to visit with me over the phone. I miss you and Bro. Mark but I know has plans for all of us. May the Lord richly bless the both of you.
Love,
Kim Tyler