Drawing a Circle

Drawing a Circle

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Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more… (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 – NASB)

The Thessalonians drew a wide circle around themselves to include all Macedonia as “their world.” We do not know how they did this. Perhaps they did it by keeping contact with the other churches by letter. Perhaps they supported missionaries to the whole region. Or, maybe it was just that they had a disciplined prayer ministry. Whatever their method, they did not become ingrown. They did not just get into their own little holy huddle. They drew a wide circle to include others.

How wide is the circle you draw around you? How big is your world? Is it just big enough to include you and your immediate loved ones? Does it only include your own church fellowship, or have you learned to draw a wide circle of love around your heart to include more than just your own circle of friends and acquaintances?

We must learn, as we grow in grace, to enlarge by degrees the circle of our love.

THE PEOPLE NO ONE ELSE WANTS

The pastor had moved and the people were left

To the task of soul-winning and some felt bereft.

For, what could they do when their leader was gone?

How to replace him? – They could find no one.

But the first prayer meeting conducted alone,

Could even have softened some hearts made of stone.

For the first prayer prayed by the deacon up front,

Was, “Send us the people whom no one else wants!”

You can well imagine the stirring inside,

And the silence that settled, as though one had died;

Till someone else cried a spontaneous response:

“Lord, send us the people whom no one else wants!”

Soon, like a rare, contagious disease,

Touching the company down on its knees,

Fell the Spirit of prayer, and they prayed all at once:

“Lord, send us the people whom no one else wants!”

What do you think was the outcome of this?

Why, the people there gathered each knew Heaven’s kiss.

And the people God sent in response to this prayer,

Were the hurting and broken ones, needing much care.

The first was a drunk and his beaten up wife:

They both knelt up front and received a new life.

Then a thief and a robber, who came to repent,

Stood up to praise God for the Grace He had sent.

A junky, a prostitute, contacted next,

Heard God speaking clearly from some simple text

In the Bible, the Spirit made plain:

In a moment of time, she had been born again.

An unmarried mother, and a “gay” person too,

Wept long at the altar until they prayed through.

It seemed that these broken, despised, needy folks,

Could hardly wait to be rid of their yolks.

When nine months had passed and twenty four came,

To the foot of the Cross and shed all their shame,

It wasn’t so hard to decide then and there,

That the miracle wrought – was an answer to prayer.

And what was the prayer that the deacon had prayed?

What was the thing that the heart of God swayed?

It was the prayer that was prayed o’er the weeks, o’er the months:

“Lord, send us the people – whom no one else wants

– by Christopher Shennan

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