I started off stressing about this article in fear of it not being published.
I wanted to make sure that I said just the right things in order to impress people and get in this paper. Thankfully I kept drawing a blank. You see, nothing I have to say is really that important.
I am ever so grateful to Kay at Building Stones Ministries for reminding me of why I desired to write for the Taft Independent in the first place. I wanted to write for God. I wanted it to be an act of service to Him. Next thing you know, I was struggling in the flesh to try and write for the peoples approval and not for the Lord. That has changed, my hearts desire is to share Gods Word not mine. Please know that my heart in all this is to bring glory to God and edification to His church. Anyways…
Being that this is the Faith & Family section, let’s start there. Faith, what is it? According to the bible, faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we can not see (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). The bible also says that what is important is faith expressing itself in love (Galatians 5:6b NLT). How is your faith expressing itself? Is it in love? You see, love is something, the bible tells us that love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable and it keeps no record of being wrong (1 Corinthians 13:4-5).
Why not let your faith in Christ show by being love. Taft is a small community and a great place to start. As Christians, our mission is to spread the Good News about Christ to a lost and dying world. Since ‘religion’ has given the body of Christ such a bad rep, it is necessary for all members of the body to reach out and share our faith through acts of love and kindness. Lets show people what the body of Christ – the church – is really about. We need to be the hands that reach out and pat others on the back as encouragement. We need to be the shoulder to cry on for those that are hurt and downcast. We need to listen to and for the needs of others, hence we have two ears.
The truth is, your local grocery is a mission field just as much as South Africa or anywhere else. Best of all, you don’t need special training. Just be patient when the check out line is long. Smile even though you have to wait longer than usual. Use this time to pray for the cashier, her day isn’t easy either ya know. Once you get to the counter, give her a few words of encouragement. Don’t sit there silently at the check out as if that should make her aware of your disapproval with the stores service. Do you eat out at all? Next time you sit at a restaurant to eat, pray for your server. Be specific. How? By asking them what you can pray for. Let them know your about to pray, say something like “Hey…we are about to pray over our food before we eat and I was just wondering if there was anything specific I could pray for you?” then pray for them when you bless your food. Oh! And don’t forget to tip whether the service was up to ‘your standards’ or not! They may be having a rough day and they already make less than half of minimum wage without your tips. This is how faith expresses itself in love. Take the time to care about the needs of others, not just your friends but everyone in your community!
These are just a couple ways to bless those in your community and share your faith with acts of love. If you would like more ideas just let me know, or if you have a few ideas of your own, by all means share them with me. I would love to hear from you. If you need prayer…I’m here for you and your prayer requests are welcome. I pray that God grant you the wisdom and knowledge of His will for you and yours!
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works (Hebrew 10:4).
Believe & Be Love!
God Bless you Taft!