Dear friends,
Although Spring is only a few days away, a powerful storm that brought lots of snow to Eastern Canada and the U.S. Northeast this week left many people wishing they were somewhere else. It reminded me of 1971, when my father and I shoveled all weekend in early March, when Montreal received one of the largest snowfalls on record. A couple of months later, I attended my first Stanley Cup final game, when the Chicago Blackhawks were the visitors at the Forum. This Tuesday, the Blackhawks played at the Bell Centre, while a blizzard raged outside. Was this a preview of this year’s Stanley Cup final? Montreal fans hope so, as do many people in Châteauguay, the hometown of Corey Crawford, Chicago’s outstanding goaltender.
In the past two editions of this blog, I have written about Christian doctrines that the late G. Christian Weiss examined in his book “The Heart of Missionary Theology.” After the apostle Paul calls on believers to pray for all people, the essential unity of God is asserted. The love and concern of God for mankind is declared in 1 Timothy 2:3-4.
The Bible has rightly been called “God’s love letter to mankind.” From the prophets (Jeremiah 31:3; Isaiah 45:22) to the psalmists (Psalm 86:15; 107:1), the Old Testament declares that God’s boundless love extends to all humanity. The love of God is a major theme of the New Testament, including the first epistle of John, which explores this doctrine in depth. Many hymns, including my favourite – “O How I Love Jesus” – extol this marvelous attribute of God.
How does the love of God relate to world missions? As Weiss states: “In order for people to be saved from their sins, they must come to a knowledge of God. They must have true knowledge of the one and only God and of Jesus Christ, the divine Son whom the Father sent into the world to be our Redeemer. People must come to a personal relationship to the one and only true God, revealed in the Bible. This demands world evangelization. The mission of proclaiming the gospel throughout the world is an essential element in the salvation of mankind. The words of Jesus in His prayer to the Father before His arrest and crucifixion clearly show this. In that great intercessory prayer He said, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
A brother who has served the Lord for many years recently spoke about the supreme task of the church. You can hear Roger Elfstrom’s message at: www.cheshirebible.org.
Scripture for the weekend: “We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 (NASB)
By His grace,
Steve