Being a True Friend

“I stopped going to church when the children were little,” Sarah explained.. “The vicar taught that people were going to Hell. I have Hindu friends that are very good people. I can’t accept that they are going to Hell.”

Sarah and I were standing on the grassy strip between our homes. I knew I needed to gently help her see a new perspective on the message she had rejected decades earlier.

“If I believe that the only way to God and to have eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ, then wouldn’t you expect me to say something to you?” I asked Sarah. “If I believe that you will spend eternity apart from God unless you also believe, then what kind of friend would I be if I did not warn you?”

“Yes, I can see that” Sarah answered and then added, “I have always had the ability to understand other’s perspectives.”

Praise God for His insight that day to keep the door open for many more conversations!

“Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. . . that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

~ 2 Corinthians 5: 11, 19 – 20 NIV

NOTE: This photo is available on Flickr. Some rights are reserved. The photographer is Ed Yourdon.