This quote has just been rocking me today so I figure others might enjoy it.
J.I. Packer wrote, "It is often said, quite fairly, that any Christian who seriously thinks that without Christ men are lost, and who seriously loves his neighbor, will not be able to rest for the thought that all around him people are going to hell, but will lay himself out unstintingly to convert others as his prime task in life; and any Christian who fails so to live undermines the credibility of his faith, for if he cannot himself take it seriously as a guide for living, why should any one else?"
2 comments:
Very thought prevoking quote. There have been breif times in my past as a Christian that I have been focused on that truth of people without Jesus will go to hell after they die.
However, mostly I have not. In recent years anyway being consumed with my own struggle to follow God.
I think there are two possibilities a zealous Christian can be like. One, a person so focused on getting the gospel message out and only thinking of that immediate conversion, almost playing the role of God expecting himself or herself to be the one thats saving based on his/her discipline and diligence to get the message accross. For me, as I was like that in the past led me to legalism and missing the boat on waiting on God's timing and focusing on building relationships and showing love rather than just spouting verses in cleverly devised circumstances.
Second, there is the one who is very concious of peoples need to be saved and waits for God's opportunity with that individual. Besides this the person is devoted to God and his/her relationships with others. Love and care is the obvious aura that eminates from them. I have witnessed this in a few individuals and this is what i aspire to.
this is so true, yet we often find it so hard to actually live this out because the world tells us differently. yet this is the paradigm that we must use, the lens through which we must see life and those around us. may we preach the gospel in word and deed and thought in our hearts. good quote.
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