Persons

We’re all called to the ministry of persons, individuals, families and small groups of folks we can know intimately, care deeply for and do life with, that’s the great commandment. We really mess things up when we decide to minister to people, large groups that we can plug into the system or run through our programs. Too often the great commission of going into the entire world subverts the commandment to love because we assume the enormity of the world is on our shoulders, so we must do it big, when all God’s asking for, is us to help Him one person at a time.

People Matter

More than anything! God values people above all else, in fact all of creation is for us. So why do we put so many other things ahead of the people in our lives? Let’s not let the day end having neglected the persons around us and if we did then let’s not tomorrow.

Who Matters to Me

“One of the ways I make things matter to me is to move from merely learning about something to finding a way to engage it on my own terms. For example, if someone asks what I think about capital punishment, instead of reciting the party line and parroting someone else’s thoughts, I think of a teenager named Kevin in prison in Uganda who has been accused of a capital crime. If the topic is same-sex attraction, I think of a dear friend of mine who is gay. Now instead of talking about an issue, I’m talking about a person, someone who matters to me. I think that Jesus wired us that way so that we’d remember. And it’s not about just being politically correct; it’s about being actually correct. We need to make our faith our very own love story.” – Bob Goff, Love Does

Not What

You may have noticed in yesterday’s post that all of the questions began with who, who do you care about, who do you love, who do you give your time to… not what. You see what is never important if there isn’t a person involved. Far too often we get caught up in the thing or the what and lose sight of the folks God has put around us. Sometimes we even appease ourselves by thinking that the thing that is so important to us is for the masses and therefore it’s okay to neglect the persons for the sake of the people.

It’s Personal

Love is always personal. We’re not called to love people; we’re called to love persons. It’s much easier to love this group or that nation without really getting into the mess that we are as individuals. When we disregard the uniqueness of individuals and diminish them by lumping them into one big pot, we miss the opportunity to share how special they are to The Father. It’s one thing to vote for this issue or contribute to that cause but it’s a God thing to get into the muck with someone and see them through to Him.