You are a chosen people…that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
The love of God doesn’t stop with us. It would be a hallow and limited Gospel if it did. Instead, the love of God beckons us to share who God is and not keep God to ourselves. We were once in darkness but no longer; now we get to share coming into God’s wonderful light with others. The last relationship we will focus on this year will be our relationship with people who do not know God yet. There are a couple of movement steps we can consider taking in 2020.
- Learn how to share the Good News of God’s love.
If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you know there’s a deep desire to share God’s love with others. How can there not be? Before I accepted God’s love and the gift of salvation, I was without identity or wholeness or purpose. My life radically changed with my first “yes” to God and every “yes” since then. The struggle I find Christians often face is that we don’t always know how to communicate our God experience to others. We don’t always know how to share the Gospel message of Jesus coming to earth, dying in our place, and resurrecting back to life. It can feel daunting, so even when given an opportunity to discuss what God has done in our lives, we stay silent. The first step in overcoming this hurdle is simply to learn a succinct way to share the Good News and our personal story. We can practice on our own or with a friend often, so we remember the important details. When we have a chance to tell someone about Jesus, it will flow naturally, and we won’t panic if we’ve remembered everything. I recommend learning the Bridge Diagram or the Big Story. The links to these methods are below.
- Invest time, finances, prayers to an issue of justice.
When we look at the brokenness of our world, the pangs of our heart tells us that life isn’t supposed to be like this. And it isn’t. We all long for the day when disease, injustice, death doesn’t win. That day is coming. In the meantime, we can get a glimpse of heaven on earth when we partner with God to attach issues of justice right now. Because Jesus cared deeply about issues of justice (Luke 4:18-19), we can too. Think about something that moves you: poverty, human trafficking, foster children, racism. Pray and ask God how you can partner with what God is already doing in that area. Do some research and see if you can volunteer at a local food bank. Consider joining Dressember and fight against human trafficking through their yearly fundraiser. Maybe God will ask you to mentor a foster child or welcome one into your home. Perhaps you can give towards a local Black Live Matter group. The possibilities are as endless as the needs, which can feel overwhelming. Take a deep breath and prayerfully pick one thing; then do that one thing really well. Demonstrate what the love of God looks like not just in words but also in action. That will tell a powerful story of hope and redemption.
Movement Step: Pray and pick a movement step above or come up with your own movement step that helps you grow in your relationship with the world. Be sure to ask a friend to keep you accountable for making this step a reality.
