Wisdom from a Thirteen-year-old Cancer Patient
We are here, because God want us to be here and have stuff for us to do here still. This point of insight was given from a 13-year-old cancer patient.
Mind on fire
Many of you have heard of the French mathematician, physicist, philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). I learned about him in high school maths. At that point I did not not he was also greatly religious, a Christian on fire, which still may be news to many. Pascal is one who realized that God cannot be reached by intellect alone, thus he composed a title such as "Reason Can Begin Again by Recognizing What It Can Never Know" – which still rings very true today. Read more here.
More than friendly
Last up is an emphasize on how important it is to devote time, energy and care to fellow human beings to win people for Christ. ”Being friendly is just not going to get anybody into the kingdom of heaven. Being a friend will” this devotional clearly states. Having only Christian friends should be a no-go situation, both for the sake of spreading the Good news, and for your sake of input, variatey and reflection.
As the devotional does not reside in the archives, I will quote an abstract.
Christians are “With their non-Christian neighbors they are friendly but rarely best friends.”.... I am well acquainted with this kind of thinking. I grew up with it. I was encouraged to be on friendly terms with non-Christians but to have only Christian friends. I'm pretty sure this was more for our protection than anything. Meanwhile, while we were learning to be good Christians, who was left to tell the others about Jesus? Unfortunately that's how we developed gospel tracks and door-to-door evangelism. Hit and run witnessing, I call it. Get in; get out; stay clean.... Being friendly is just not going to get anybody into the kingdom of heaven. Being a friend will. It takes love, patience, and longsuffering with even the most cantankerous of unbelievers for walls of resistance to break down. And it takes time.... Let's think about our neighbors today, and our work related associates, and think about how we can be more than just friendly. Think of it this way: we are the carriers of Christ. If we remain distant, we are depriving others of the opportunity to come into contact with Him. After all, Christ in you is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) -- hope for me, hope for you, and hope for our friends. This is why being friendly just isn't good enough.
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