I have heard it said that the most compassionate act and greatest blessing that followers of Christ can do for other people is to connect them with Jesus Christ. There is no question that the act of providing food and shelter to the unhoused is a blessing to them. There is no question that emotional support for grieving people is a blessing to them. There is no question that providing a bed for a child sleeping on the floor is a blessing both to the child and the parents. Acts of compassion for hurting people improve circumstances and open doors to the greatest blessing of all: to know Jesus Christ. A relationship with Jesus becomes the love, the light, and the life of God breathed into their very being through his Son. There is no greater blessing than that!
As followers of Christ, it should be our life’s purpose to share the hope and love and salvation of Jesus Christ with those around us. The year 2024 was a year to focus on blessing our communities. The apostle Paul wrote that our work is produced by faith and that our labor is prompted by love (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Paul also wrote, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
The year 2025 is a year to focus on bringing people to Jesus. This is God working in the lives of others through our faith, love, and good works. We are humbled when we remember Jesus’s words, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). This is God’s work in which we have the privilege of participating. We also remember that everyone is invited to come to the Father. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is God’s defining work in the lives of broken people. Again, we are privileged to participate in what God is already doing.
Starting on Easter and running through—and beyond—Pentecost, the focus of prayer will be bringing people to Jesus. Will you pray with your brothers and sisters in Christ for God to move powerfully in the lives of those who are disconnected from God?
—Jeff Alexander
Director of Strategy, USA/Canada Region
Church of the Nazarene
