Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
Beyond Hope? Theme of the Week: The Reaching-out Risk Friday, October 1, 2004
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Men of IntegritySeptember/October 2004Beyond Hope?Theme of the Week: The Reaching-out RiskFriday, October 175
Key Bible Verse: If we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen? (1 John 4:20). Bonus Reading:1 John 4:16b–21
Several years ago, a certain woman and her children began attending our church. The pain she felt over her husband's absence was deep. He wasn't simply staying home; he'd left her. Folks from our church family showed love to her and the kids. She began to experience Christ being poured into her life. The fragrance of Christ was released like a sweet-smelling perfume.
Meanwhile, two men in our church began to reach out and care for the husband. After some time, he began to attend the second of our two worship services by himself. Eventually he came back home. Their marriage is restored, and their relationship with Christ is growing.
Recently the husband shared with me that if it hadn't been for the love he felt from this community, and in particular from those two men, he doubted if he would ever have come back. It wasn't what he'd expected from a church. "I thought I'd be judged and pushed aside, but people really loved me. Sam and Eric in particular offered me hope. Despite all I'd done and all my failures, they demonstrated that my life wasn't beyond hope. God could rebuild my marriage and my life."
—Jim Kallam Jr. in Risking Church
My Response: A different way I could treat someone I've judged would be …
Thought to Apply: We like someone because, we love someone although.
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