“Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing.” (2 Thessalonians 1:3)
As Paul writes to his friends in Thessalonica, he mentions the two most important ingredients of the Christian life, faith and love. Faith is what connects us to God. Love is what connects us to each other.
“Without faith, it is impossible to please God,” the letter to the Hebrews tells us. It is through faith that we come into a relationship with God. It is through faith that we maintain a relationship with God. “We walk by faith, not by sight,” as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians. Faith is active, not passive. Jesus said, “Be it done unto you according to your faith.”
Love should be the way that we relate to other people. One of Jesus’ last commands to his followers was that they should love each other as he had loved them. Our Lord set the bar high on how we are to love and said that we would be recognized as his followers by how we loved each other.
Love is not just reserved for other Christians, though. We are commanded to imitate God who loved the world so much that he sent Jesus to die for it. Jesus even redefined the law and said that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
In reality, this is the way that most people find their way to God. As we love our non-Christian friends, we create an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. Most people find Christ because a Christian friend loved them, listened to them, brought them to church, and genuinely cared about them.
On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate faith and love in your life?
Annie and I are serving the Lord in the US, Africa, South America, and India. Your gifts are making an impact in so many lives. Please click here if you would like to get involved. Thanks so much!
