By Dr. Foster H. Shannon

God loves us and desires good for everyone. When we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and are baptized into his name, we enter a new world. We bask in the love of God; we are strengthened in the truth and reliability of the scriptures. We recognize that we are not alone. We have guidance and strength in our Savior.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is
that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Even though we see evil about us, and nations and people doing dreadful things, we know that better days are coming. We know that there is right and there is wrong, and that goodness flows from God.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1,2)
From the apostle Paul:

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

We belong to our Savior. He is the source of our life, of our well-being. What we do, we do with his counsel and his strength. It is evident that we are not to hold our Savior at arms length. We converse with him in prayer. We seek his guidance, his enablement and strengthening and encouragement. We cannot lead a worthwhile life without him. He is the source of our happiness, of our joy. It is our Savior that make our lives worthwhile. He is the Creator, the Teacher, the Redeemer. In him we find life, and in him life is very good. Jesus said,

“I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Thus, believing in Christ, we are to be the light of the world. Jesus pointed out that we do not light a lamp and then cover it up, rather we want its light to shine. (Matthew 5:14-16) There are those about us who would have us keep to ourselves and be quiet about our faith in Jesus Christ, but we cannot do that. We must not let them intimidate us. We must take great pride in our Savior. We must want others to know about him. There are people about us whom we may encourage.

Almost all of the people in our nation believe that God exists. But they may not read the scriptures, and they may not know much about him. We need not approach people, as if we have righteousness and they have not—but that we have found life in Jesus Christ, and have good news to share. If we love those about us, we must want what is best for them. The best is to be found in the Bible and in our Savior. May God deliver us from arrogance—but may he help us to be generous to the people among whom we live, and encourage them to find the hope and good news that is in Jesus Christ.