Lighting Up Our City: Week 3-Connecting Through Your Story નમૂનો

Have you ever wondered how two people can experience the same or similar circumstances yet respond in completely opposite ways? One person may feel hurt by what happened, while the other person quickly brushes it off and moves forward without thinking about it further. Individual motivations and actions reveal differing needs which require various ways of showing love.

In 1 Thessalonians 4-5, Paul describes what it looks like to “walk and please God.” One way we can love others is by treating each person according to what they need. This requires trusting God to give us discernment and letting Him guide our words and actions, especially when it comes to sharing our story.

Because we feel, process, and respond to situations in different ways, not everyone relates to every part of every story. Therefore, we don’t need to share every part of our story with every person. Instead, we should relate only those details which are most likely to have meaning to our listener.

As we interact with someone, we should pray for guidance in the following areas:

●Which parts of our story would God have us share?

●How can we share our story in a way that’s relevant?

●Does our listener need to be warned, corrected, encouraged, strengthened, or helped in some other way?

Regardless of how God leads us, it’s important to remember that it is not our job to save anyone. Only God can do that. However, by His guidance and power, He can use us to show love and point others to Him.

He may do this by helping us plant seeds that can bring someone closer to Christ or help them become more open to the gospel as we share what faith has looked like in our life. Or maybe He’ll direct us to offer more tangible, hands-on assistance by providing for a physical need. However He leads, I pray we will be open to hearing His voice and sharing that with others.

By Jenny Fulton