My purpose is............. people

What is my purpose here on earth? To serve the Lord, glorify Him and be a witness to others of His glory.

Our main purpose as Christians, should be people! Let me explain. I think sometimes we as Christians often become derailed in our ambition and ministry. We forget that it is all about winning souls and living Christ-like. We may become so focused on what WE get out of a ministry and how important it make US feel, that we forget it is about presenting Jesus to others.

If you look through the Gospels, you will find out lots about Jesus' ministry. His ministry included eating with sinners, healing the sick, mingling with the people that needed Him the most.

"Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with the tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Matthew 9:10-13

Jesus was the perfect example of how our lives should be. Yes, He met with His disciples, prayed with and for them and taught them. However, He also went out and showed them how to minister. He was not afraid to mingle with the tax collectors and sinners. It should be like this for us. I believe we should go to church and fellowship with other believers, get grounded in God's word through Bible studies, etc, but our Christian life shouldn't stop there. There should be more to our lives then just the people we go to church with. We should be taking an active part in the lives of the people around us (neighbors, clerks at the grocery store, children and families we many know through school, etc). For some people our lives will be the only face of Jesus that they may see. We need to show them that we care, take an interest in their lives and pray for them. It is not our job to do the work of the Holy Spirit. We are not to condemn or judge others. That is not saying we may not like the sin they are committing, but we still need to love that person because God created them!

Another example in the above scripture, is not to be like the Pharisees! They were so disdainful in their attitude, that they failed to see the "bigger picture" of souls needing Christ.

So just a gentle reminder my friends (and to myself) that one of our jobs as Christians is to be Christ-like, show compassion, gentleness, kindness to the brokenhearted and unlovable people in this world. Watch for the opportunity to become a friend to someone new, who may not know the truth. I want my purpose to be all about........................ the PEOPLE!

"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." I Timothy 2:3-4