Let’s face the facts: ministry isn’t about converting. Ministry is not taking your friends to church on a Sabbath morning and crossing your fingers in anticipation that they’ll change their heathen ways and become a God-fearing, vegetarian, long-skirt-wearing Seventh-day Adventist.
Don’t get me wrong: God loves when his children find the pure truth of His love through the Seventh-day Adventist Church. But what God doesn’t love is when His children, who know that truth, ignore it. A large amount of us students at Southern Adventist University were raised in the Adventist church. We have the 28 fundamental beliefs, a modest dress code and the end times Revelation prophecy. But above all, we have the knowledge that Christ loves us with no strings attached. Our main goal should be getting that gospel message of love across to the rest of the population who have never even heard the name “Jesus.”
Within one sentence, Jesus’ declaration to the self-righteous scribes directs us to our purpose as Christians: “Love thy neighbor” (Mark 12:31).
If there was any time to love our brothers and sisters throughout the world, the time is now. Currently, there are three hurricanes threatening the Americas and the Caribbean. Across the globe, specifically in Pakistan, India and Nigeria, flooding is displacing thousands of lives. An 8.1-magnitude earthquake has just devastated Mexico. The earth is hurting, and we are suffering as a result of it.
While loving your neighbor who lives across the world may seem impossible, God has empowered us with the gift of prayer and the ability to spread awareness. On the other hand, loving your neighbor who is right next to you is much more tangible.
Instead of a passing, “How are you?”, loving your neighbor is taking the time to actually care about how someone is doing. Loving your neighbors is listening to the people who feel as if they have no one to turn to. Loving your neighbor is all about the little things that show, through God’s love, that you care.
There is immense value in our church’s 28 fundamental beliefs, modest styles and Revelation prophecy. God has placed every aspect of the church’s belief system in our paths for good reasons. But our Christianity loses its authenticity when we turn our eyes away from Christ’s commandment on how to treat the children of God within our reach. Let us not complicate the Gospel. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7).
