We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
When we hear of new believers there is an excitement and a joy that comes with knowing that others have found the same love and peace that we did when we surrendered our lives Jesus. Knowing that more people have found Jesus and are in turn sharing Him with others is something that over joys all believers.
Often we divide ourselves by what church we go to or what denomination. But God never intended for us to be divided. We are all believers in Jesus and His grace and that is what brings us together.
Something I’ve been thinking about lately is how when we meet other believers our first responses is usually. ‘What church do you go to?’ And then we immediately begin to either bond or judge each other based on the answer to that question.
But what if our first question to other believer when we find out we share faith in Jesus is.
“What has God been doing in your life or teaching you recently?”
This question can direct our conversation to encourage and uplift each other by focusing instead on what draws us together, instead of what separates us.