Day 18 - Love all People

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Sons of God.  (Matthew 5:8)

People don't care how much you know.  They care how much you care (Mariann Paraphrase of someone's quote).

That is so true.  We will never win people to the kingdom of God in anger and pushing and shoving.  They are won by consistent Love, Kindness and Gentleness.  They don't necessarily hear the Gospel you preach, they see it in your actions.

I remember this woman from a church I went to in my college days.  There was this one woman, Joyce.  She loved God.  Her husband, not so much.  She came to church faithfully every Sunday, she taught Sunday school, served when needed.  She was faithful.  But more so, she loved and served her husband.  Everytime we took prayer requests, she prayed for her husbands salvation.  This went on for years. 

A few years ago, Joyce went home to be with the Lord.  At her funeral service, where my pastor officiated, her husband came up to the pastor afterward and prayed the prayer of salvation. 

What won him?  It wasn't Joyce preaching and nagging him into the kingdom. It was her faithfulness as his wife and his lover.  She served him.  She loved him.  She prayed for him. 

Her husband now serves the Lord because of her faithfulness to love her husband into the kingdom, not push or shove or nag.

Today, I take the dare to love people into the kingdom of God and to love all people as members of your family.

(For more on "The Discipleship Dare" by Jess Bousa, please check out http://www.thediscipleshipdare.com/. )