How do you talk about faith with someone who does not share it, without becoming the person they start avoiding? Pastor Linda Reese took that question apart from three angles: God’s patience, His kindness, and the job He has actually handed us.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 (KJV)

His patience sets the standard for ours

What looks like God being slow is God holding a door open. Pastor Linda drew the obvious conclusion: if God is not willing that any should be lost, then we should not be willing to write anyone off, however far gone they look to us. That includes the people whose sins we find hardest to forgive.

She was realistic about how it goes. You talk to a friend about God and they turn you away. Do not give up on them. There may be another opening, and you can ask again, and one day it may be the day they turn.

She had a case in point. A friend of hers was deep in drugs. She kept talking, and talking, and talking to him. She believes he is a Christian now, and says he is a completely different man from the one she knew.

Kindness came first, not argument

Titus puts the order plainly. It was the kindness and love of God our Saviour that appeared, and He saved us not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy (Titus 3:4–5). Nobody is argued into that. They are shown it.

She also wanted the balance kept. We will all give account of how we have lived (2 Corinthians 5:10), and a healthy respect for that should make us more useful rather than paralysed. But good deeds are not the ticket. “Good deeds ain’t gonna save you,” she said. They are what love looks like once you are already His.

What that looks like on your street

Her examples were small and immediate. A neighbour short of food: take food round. Someone too ill to cook for their family: take a meal over. Parents worn out: babysit so they can have an evening. None of it needs a programme or a budget.

Ambassadors, not salesmen

Paul calls us ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us (2 Corinthians 5:14–21). An ambassador represents somebody else’s country and speaks for somebody else’s king. The love of Christ is what moves it along, not a technique, and it comes with a change of eyesight: we stop sizing people up the way the world does.

He is coming, and He has said so

The day of the Lord comes like a thief (2 Peter 3:10). Pastor Linda pointed out what makes that image comforting rather than frightening. A burglar does not ring ahead to warn you. God has. He has not told us when, and He has told us plainly that He is coming, and the waiting is mercy: He is giving people time.

His aim was never to punish or to strip the joy out of a life. He is building a home (2 Peter 3:13). What He leaves to us is the choice.

Something to do this week

Pick one person, do one kind thing, and say nothing about church. Then keep praying for them, and be willing to ask again.

Related messages: Sent Out Two by Two, Every Person Matters to God and How Serving Others Strengthens Faith.

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