If we are honest, we would rather talk about serving others than actually do it. I recently wrote a paper for seminary on Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” It’s a sacrificial love. As a writer, the words came easy for me, but being the one to get out of bed at 5am to take the dogs out so my wife can keep sleeping, does not.


The same principle that is true in marriages is true in our interaction with unbelievers. We may lead different lives with different priorities, but Jesus wants us to follow His example and pursue those relationships, to sacrificially seek to be a blessing to them. We are not to excuse their sin and certainly not join in it, but we are called to look beyond it, just as God did with us before He saved us. Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and all kinds of “sinners.” When we avoid the lost and retreat into our Christian bubble of Christian friends and Christian subculture, we are, ironically, less like our Namesake.