We Must Love all People Like God, Although Hard to Do: Love, That is the Secret of Ministerial Success!

 

I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. 

- Acts 20:26

The Mornings With God App had a nice message, a good reminder for all of us, even priests and representatives of churches and Christ. We must love everyone. It said, "It is a happy thing for a minister, or anybody, to be able to look back on years of life and work, and to find nothing to regret – nothing done that were better not done. Yet that is the way we should all live. Paul’s review of his life shows a fine model of pastoral faithfulness. He had been always with his people – not running away on all manner of excursions. He had loved his people – that is the secret of ministerial success. A man who does not love people cannot be a good pastor.  It is a great thing for any one to be able to say, “I am pure from the blood of all men.” This implies that we have done all we could do to show Christ to them. Paul’s farewell shows how deep an interest he had in the people he was leaving. It shows his faith, too, for he commits them all to God, knowing that they would not be forgotten or overlooked when the pastor was gone." We have a very loving priest now in Father John, an 84 year old Irish Catholic priest,  he shakes your hand, looks you in the eye, cares, invites you to his home, and says his door is always opened. It is a real switch for us, we went to another church for a few years, that priest would not even look at us, ignored us, avoided us when we saw him in the gym, he was so insecure and showed no interest in us at all, not like any other priests we have experienced before for someone as a priest who is supposed to represent Jesus. We all can learn a lot from this, like Paul, we all need to love all, be pure from the blood of all humans, be more like Christ, more like God, loving all, no matter what like Father John does, he is much more like Paul. Be a good disciple. Love one another, love like Jesus, know your citizenship is in Heaven with God!