Finding Truth Today

Millicent from Dubai in email asked: “How do I deal with people who are not Christian and live in their country?”

Great question, Millicent! Everyone who has accepted Christ Jesus are in a country which is filled with people who are not Christian i.e., people who do not follow Christ Jesus’ teachings and have repented their sin and accepted Him as their Savior.

Read Philippians 3:15-21; “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Note specifically verse 20: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,”

Remembering that these people are not saved from their sin, you and I as a Christian need to heed Christ Jesus’ teaching: Matthew 5:43-44 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” AND John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Basically Millicent, you and I need to be the best example of Christ Jesus to everyone around us so that they can see the hope we have and want that hope too. A Christian’s definition of hope is far superior to that of the world. Instead of wishing or hoping for something to happen, a believer knows that their hope is solid, concrete evidence because it is grounded in the Word of God and we know that God cannot lie (Heb 6:18; Num 23:19).

“For in this hope we [Christians] were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” because “If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)?”

Remember, if the person is not a Christian, they have no hope because “those who go down to the pit do not hope for [God’s] faithfulness” (Isaiah 38:18) however “to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you [it is] the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

You and I as Christians are “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13) and “and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3) but for those who reject Christ there is only “a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:27).

Here is the key thing to remember Millicent, when you live among people who are not Christian, “Whoever believes in Him [Christ Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). Those condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God are in the most hopeless situation to be in.

If you have not believed in the name of the only Son of God, why not do so right now?