The Lost Sheep of Christ Ministry

Mark 12:29 Jesus replied,“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart,all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

I’m not going to try to convince you about the existence of God or role that Jesus Christ should have in your life on a website.  Everybody’s relationship with God and Jesus should be and is personal and is different than the next person’s and there is so much scientific evidence that supports the Bible's account of history - yes, even the creation of the universe in 7 days is supported by science.  If you have questions,comments or concerns about God or Jesus Christ or your relationship with them, then we should talk on a more individual level. That being said, I would now like to address those of you that do know God and Jesus and call yourself a "Christian”. 

Mark 12:31 "The second isequally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  No other commandment is greater than these.”

John 13:34-35: "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

How many of you that call yourselves Christians,that say they love the Lord and faithfully keep the first commandment, can honestly say “I love my neighbor as myself”? That seems to be a major pitfall for people throughout history, and Iwant to help other believers in Christ live better lives and live as Christ would have us live.  In other words, if you believe, then behave.

How many times do you see others that call themselves Christians talking disrespectfully about others, treating others unfairly, shunning others that are less fortunate?  Why is it that so many people that call themselves Christians feel it’s ok treat others poorly, take advantage of others, stab them in the back?

Most religions of the world have some form of what is commonly called “The Golden Rule”, so this is not purely a Christian teaching.  But the fact remains that people, in general, have forgotten, or perhaps ignore that teaching and choose to do what is easy, what is comfortable or what benefits them first.  Too many people have hate for others that are different or those that make different choices for themselves than what they would make for themselves.  They judge people based on what they see (or what they think they see) instead of looking at the person and getting to know the person. 

It’s easy to take bits and pieces of Scripture to make it sound how you want it to sound…to justify your own bad behavior or prejudices.  The Bible has been misused in this way in many periods of history to “justify” some of the most horrendouscrimes against man.  People have toforget the hatred that they have been taught and get back to Christ’s teachings and realize that he didn’t preach hate toward ANYONE (there is a differencebetween hating an action from a person and hating the person).  Jesus preached love, compassion and forgiveness towards others, even those that have wronged you.  He even did it while being put to ahorrendous death on the cross.  We can’teven do it when being cut in front of at Wal-Mart.  I mean…come on.  Satan put a diversion in our path and weallow ourselves to be led astray.  Now,before I go any further, I will fully admit that I am human, I am not perfect,I have faults, and I do make mistakes. Being a Minister does NOT make my road any smoother or any easier.  In fact, I am both a bigger target for Satan and I am being held to a higher standard by God and those people that know meas a Minister.

I’m not going to sit here and say “Mr. so-and-so said this and he needs to repent” or “Ms. Such-and-such did this and she shouldn’t be allowed to associate with us”. What I am going to say is that I’m pretty sure each of us knows what is right and what is wrong.  Jesus preached that defilement comes from within..meaning it is our words; our actions are what defile us.  Each of us knows if something we did was done out of love or hatred.  We know if we would want someone else to treat us like we treated them.  Being able to stand up and do what is right is harder.  Taking the higher road, being the bigger person, is hard.  Asking for help is sometimes the hardest part.