Most believers and the churches that they attend know or think they know “what they believe” and “how to tell others about their belief in Jesus”. In many ways, the pastors of those churches feel that they know these things as well. Some do know these fundamental beliefs of the church and they preach them from God’s Word. But do you know why you should study God’s Word? Do you know why you should tell others in your family and those who live nearby about your Savior?
Is there a reason why we should tell others about Jesus? Why do we come to church?
Telling others about our Savior throws a lifeline to them so that they can know their Savior and escape an eternity in hell. Why do we come to church? Because the Bible says, “forsake not the assembling of the brethren or believers”. We are strengthened in our Spirit when we worship Jesus together. We learn more about our Savior and how to be His disciples when we meet together and study the Bible about His work. We learn about who we are to take this good news, the gospel, to every tribe and nation and tongue, whether it is across the ocean or the street.
But…do we take this good news even to our own family? The “why” of the gospel is simple, maybe too simple, and it is love. God loved us and still loves us so deeply that He sent Jesus to live and die for our sins, no matter how big or small our sins may seem to be to us. The sins that we commit each day in our thoughts and in our speech and with our eyes tend to make a mockery of our claim of being a Christian. We don’t take our faith and our walk with Jesus by our side seriously. Sometimes we rarely think about Him at all outside of the church. It’s almost like when we were young and we would go to visit our grandmother or an aunt that we only see once or twice a year.
We would be told in very stern words to be on our best behavior while we are there. The problem with this kind of thinking and living as Christians is that unlike our grandmother or our aunt, God knows what we think and say even if we don’t say it in church. He knows about your sins regardless of their perceived size because to a holy God…every sin is the same. It is our rebellion against Him and His commandments. That is hard for us to understand because we categorize sins as big or little, white or black. To God, telling your Mom that you didn’t eat the cookie when you did is the same as killing your brother or someone in anger. They don’t seem to be the same to us, but to God, a sin is a sin…period.
Your life and mine are an open book to God. He can turn the days back and see the day you were born and He can look ahead to the day you will die or to the day that we will be taken up to heaven. He knows you and me far better and more completely than our family does. So answer this question in your mind: do you know why you are important to God? It is a simple answer but it is one that we rarely believe or understand because it is too simple.
The reason that we are important to God is LOVE.
Plain, simple, and boring…but from His perspective, it is the most important reason of all! Why is love so bland and boring to us? Because we have used the word for so many things which are not actually “love” until we have tarnished its meaning and weakened its importance. For some people, the expression of love can be done in ways that others would find obsessive or offensive. Then there are times when we say, “I love that show!” or “I love shrimp!”
We use the word “love” in ways and for the expression of feelings that really have no resemblance to love at all. At least not the type of love that God has for us and for all of His Creation. We have stretched it and turned it into a word with little meaning at all because we use it so much. But…God’s Love for us is overflowing with meaning and purpose and it’s alive just like His Word in the Bible. It inspires you and it burns within you and it compels you to do things that you wouldn’t normally do like get in front of a group of people and speak for almost thirty minutes!
Love is the reason for everything that God made. Especially when it comes to His feelings for you and me. God’s love came to Earth so that we could come to heaven. He came to pay for our mistakes so we wouldn’t have to pay the penalty ourselves.
The Living Message of Christ 