Avel | FREE15

If you’re anything like me, sharing your faith as a Christian can be difficult some times. I am a very passionate person, and my love for Christ is no exception. Often my passion can be a little intimidating. One of my biggest struggles has been to not be intimidating, but it’s hard when I get so readily excited about who Jesus is and the grace he gifted me.

It’s as if I was rescued from prison for more crimes than you could imagine and Jesus set me free, only asking that I follow him out of prison.

Who DOES that?

That’s exactly my point.

When I first met Avel I instantly identified with his outgoing and passionate personality. As one conversation led to another I began to admire not only his warmth and conversation, but his sincerity to listen.

Avel is a talented musician and performer. His passion for people runs deep, deeper than his love of music. Music is his way of meeting people where they are, and captivating their attention. But, Avel has come to realize that the importance of captivating attention is nothing if it is not partnered with a sincere ear to listen.

That is what I want to share with you today.

If you’re a Christian, this post is for you. If you’re not a Christian, hopefully this will shed some light on the one who loves you.

Christian, we are called to be followers of Jesus. A reflection of him in heart and mind. We are not called to be a specific denomination, color, nationality or religion. We may be one or more of those things, but we are not all, as a group, called to be a specific genre of person in order to follow Christ. So many times, as believers sharing our faith to non believers we push our credentials instead of having a sincere ear.

What do I mean by that?

We often believe that sharing our faith means making someone a Baptist/Methodist/Catholic who does good deeds, forgiving their mistakes (as long as they’re not to us personally), and loving them until they leave, or we do.

Christian, it is not our job to save people. It is our job to serve people. Serving starts with knowing and discerning what people need. Knowing what they need starts with listening.

Avel really opened my heart to the importance of having a sincere ear.

“I’ve learned that people really won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I’ve learned that people don’t want someone to shove the Bible down their throats; they just want someone to listen to them…just as Jesus did. In terms of furthering the kingdom, I’ve just learned to be intentional with people and feel what they feel and just stand by their side. Be Jesus.”

-Avel

Those words speak volumes to me. I hope they speak straight to your heart as well. Loving people like Jesus loves us means loving people in spite of their beliefs, sexual orrientation, past, or sins against us.

How do you love people like that? This is where intimacy with the Creator comes in. You can’t love someone like Christ loves you until you know just how much Christ loves you.

Intimacy with him, comes from listening to him… having a sincere ear to Jesus Christ.

xo

AnnaFilly