How to love others the right way
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How to love others the right way

ByJason Holland

Christians are commissioned to do a variety of activities that exemplify the heart of our Father. First and foremost, we are challenged by the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus. This activity requires our personal involvement in Gospel work both locally and to the ends of the earth. Most Christians struggle to respond to the Great Commission and therefore we are still working towards fulfilling Jesus’ command nearly 2,000 years later.


Throughout Scripture the heart of God has been expressed through His desire to offer relationship, reconciliation, salvation, healing, and deliverance. This loving expression is made manifest in the Great Commission of Jesus. Yet, the activity of going and preaching is not sufficient in itself. The Lord requires of us more. He requires love!


The love of the Lord is peppered throughout all of Scripture. When you read the Word, you will find God’s love over and over. Sometimes His love is very apparent, and other times it is an underlying subtext of His guidance, correction, or even discipline. For us to love others we need to embrace the various forms of God’s love. As we read in Psalm 82:3-4, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”


Many churches get it wrong. Many Christians get it wrong too. If we are not actively engaged in giving justice to the weak and fatherless and fighting for those who are the downtrodden, we are missing it. Our role is to love the unloved, fight for those who cannot fight for themselves; and when necessary, lay down our lives for others.


John 15:3 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”


Paul admonishes us who are strong to bear others up and lay down our own selfishness. The next time you see someone in need, what will you do? The next time you see injustice taking place, what will you do? The next time you see someone going without the resources they need, what will you do?


Romans 15:1 “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”


Give yourself today to be used by the Lord by extending His love. Allow Him to love through you in new ways according to His Word. It’s more than a hug and a passing prayer. His love is active!

When a Christian passes away
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When a Christian passes away

ByChris Crane

In Matthew Chapter 5 verses 3-4, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” And, ” Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” When a loved one, who has followed or accepted CHRIST, and has lived a life seeking and doing the will of GOD, dies: we do not weep and mourn because their life’s journey here on earth has come to an end. We weep and mourn because their life will no longer be a part of our journey and our life while we still remain.


Quite frankly, there really is no remedy for the deep sadness or for the sense of loss that we experience when someone we love passes away. We tend to remember the good things about a deceased loved one and focus on characteristics such as kindness, loyalty, faithfulness, and love. If we dare to bring up some good memories, we are just trading a brief respite for further sadness and pain, because this causes us to miss them even more. This state of sadness can be quite difficult to bear and the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verses 3-4 that there is indeed a time to weep and a time to mourn. However, the same scripture tells us that there is also a time to laugh and a time to dance. For while there is no immediate remedy for the sadness and loss during a time of mourning, there is still hope, there is comfort, and there is faith.  A faith in the goodness of GOD and his unfailing promises.


Not the promises of prosperity and riches, which at a time of loss seem frivolous and unimportant, but promises like we find in the book of John chapter 5 verse 24 when JESUS says, “He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, HAS EVERLASTING LIFE, and SHALL NOT COME INTO CONDEMNATION; but is PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE.” The promise in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 of receiving a new body; a heavenly body made for us by GOD himself. It is not that any one of us wants to die and get rid of the bodies that clothe us, rather we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life! 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 also promises in verse 17 that if any man be in CHRIST, he/or she is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The promise that as a follower of CHRIST our sins will be forgiven, remembered no more, and removed from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). The promise that as we walk from death to life and receive our new heavenly body, that we will be granted citizenship and full access to the heavenly city mentioned in Revelation Chapter 21. A city where the streets are paved with gold, where GOD himself will live among us, and He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more sorrow, or crying, or pain, for those things will be gone forever!


In the book of Matthew Chapter 24 verse 3, the disciples asked JESUS, “What will be the sign of these things, of your coming , and of the end of the world?” JESUS answered them with a list of things: 1. False teachers in the church 2. War and rumors of war 3. Ethnicity against ethnicity, nation against nation 4. Famines 5. Pestilences- and 6. Earthquakes in diverse places. Look around, it seems this list of things is taking place in our current world, and one cannot help but wonder if the return of CHRIST could happen very soon in our own lifetime. If He does return, what might that look like? Well, the appearing of Christ is described in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 verse 16- For THE LORD HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of GOD: and the dead in CHRIST shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet THE LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with THE LORD. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. So we find comfort in knowing that if THE LORD were to return anytime in the future, that our loved one will be counted as one of, “the dead in CHRIST,” they will go before us and we will join them as we all come together to be forever with our JESUS! 


This is where we place our hope. The hope of eternal life, which GOD, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. (Titus 1:2) So be thankful that your loved one was a part of your life and your journey here on earth and know that you will be seeing them soon.