Church Planting International PO Box 250, Mt. Gravatt, Queensland 4122, Australia
before." I am pleased to report that our friendship has now continued for many years and does to this day.
Jesus loved people unconditionally and so must we. If we do not, then our love is not genuine in the first place. g. Learn to appreciate people for who they are My personal experience has been that there are likeable and commendable features in most people if you look hard enough. Too often we are conditioned to reject people after our first impression, particularly if the person is obviously a non-Christian. It has been my joy on numerous occasions to get beyond an initially indifferent or hostile facade through discovering some feature about a person that I could genuinely appreciate and commend. We should try to see people as Jesus sees them. Or, in the words of a beautiful Christian song, "Look beyond their faults and see their need." Try to look at people in a positive manner. If there are no other features that enable you to do this, always try to see within them the eternal soul for whom Jesus died.
h. Endeavor to help people. Everyone has needs of one kind or another. Someone has said, in regard to building a congregation, "Try to find a need and then fill it." This principle can be true of bringing someone to Christ. Discover some need that your neighbour has, and endeavour to meet that need. Offering to help and assist a person will usually evoke a positive response from them. Even if they do not allow you to do so, they will appreciate the offer. Expressing willingness to perform some task around the home will often get you into that home and into the person's heart. There are so many ways in which we can help people and each of them helps to build a bridge of friendship that we can cross in order to be a blessing to that life. Always remembering that ultimately the finest thing we can do for anyone is to bring them to a knowledge of Jesus.
i. Be available. Proverbs 27.10. says, "Better is a neighbour that is near, than a brother that is afar off."
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