THEY MUST SEE JESUS LIVING IN ME—365 DAYS—of EVERY YEAR!
Today begins a most-important week because today marks the beginning of Holy Week. This is the week commemorating the DEATH, BURIAL, & RESURRECTION of Jesus. Therefore, it is with this thought that I begin my prayer time and Bible study this day.
Throughout this season of Lent leading up to Easter 2022, I have been focused on the missionaries of North America, a place where almost every nation of the world is represented, “making it one of the most complex mission fields.” Each year, people move to the US in search of a better life, and as we look at their heritage, we find that these immigrants come from places that are closed to the Gospel. Thus, the mission field of Christ Jesus may move in next door from us or even down the street.
Nations learning to live with other nations in harmony.
Christians ministering to unbelievers in Jesus’ love.
Unbelievers seeing Jesus through our hands and our feet, as we carry Jesus to their doorsteps.
Those lost and walking a path to eternal separation engulfed in the aroma as we share Jesus with our neighbors, our new friends, and our children & grandchildren’s playmates.
- How are we doing?
- How are we doing sharing Jesus across our hedges, at our kitchen tables as we share a cup of coffee, at the backyard playground as we watch the children play, and out in the driveway as we play a game of “pick-up-basketball” or a game of “Horse”?
- Am I living so the world sees Jesus living inside me? That is the question we ask ourselves this day.
- Am I living so the world smells the sweet aroma of Jesus who lives inside me? That is the question we must ask ourselves this day.
Christianity seems like a statement of “falsehood” to so many. If it is to become a statement of TRUTH, then living for Jesus cannot be just “moderately” important to us. NO! LIVING for JESUS MUST BE OUR “EVERYTHING” EVERY DAY of the WEEK, not just on Sundays & not just during Holy Week as we march toward Easter Sunday.
My neighbors MUST SEE JESUS LIVING IN ME 365 DAYS of EVERY YEAR!
Today, I am focused upon Paul’s letter to the believers living at Corinth; he was assuring them how they were to reaffirm their love of Him (Jesus, the Messiah, Savior, & Redeemer). PLEASE READ WITH ME.
“Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for Him.
For to this and also I wrote so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.
But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,
I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.
And who is adequate for these things?
For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.”
(2 Corinthians 2: 8-17)
There are so many living next door, beside us, and in our neighbors, right in our backyards. We see these people—365 Days of Every Year.
Maybe . . .
We wave at them as we pull out of our driveways to go to work.
We mow our lawns side-by-side, on the same days.
We Bar-B-Que next door on summer-like evenings.
Our children play together into the late afternoons.
Our houses sit close beside each other. OR
We pass by their home as we drive down our roads and streets.
Maybe we sit next to them at our workplace, and maybe we even go to lunch with them when the noonday arrives.
It could be that our children and grandchildren play on the same community T-Ball teams.
And it could be that our families are linked by the same community concerns.
- We are neighbors.
- We are side-by-side so many times.
- We are to live—So That They See Jesus Living In Us.
- We are to be “the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”
- We are to be “a fragrance of Christ to God [every day of the 52 weeks God gives us to live] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,”
- “For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 2: 17)
So, on this first day of Holy Week, as we begin our walk toward Easter, toward our celebration of Resurrection Sunday, let us allow the “nations” of people living and working beside us SEE CHRIST LIVING WITHIN US—NOT JUST DURING HOLY WEEK!
THEY MUST SEE JESUS LIVING IN YOU & IN ME—365 DAYS of EVERY YEAR!
Why, we might ask, should we care? Our Salvation in God is secure. From our Salvation to our Glorification (when we will go home to be with God forevermore), there is a daily “sanctification” God is working within us. His grace is not just for us but for everyone.
- How we live—Matters.
- How we grow in spiritual maturity—Matters.
- How others see Jesus living in us—Matters!
Jesus Christ, our Savior, says it best.
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life.
They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
(John 5: 24)