Last year, before Passover, a friend and I went to see the controversial movie The Passion of The Christ. Yes, there were some things in there that were contrary to my beliefs, but it still had a profound impact on me. What stood out in my mind throughout were Christ’s character and His great passion for us. Christ’s life reflects the great courage, forgiveness and mercy that Christ displayed for all of us. Christ was a servant and a good shepherd, for a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

Yes, He came with a vital message, but before the message could have an impact on our lives He had to become a servant first. He gave so much to all of us by His great caring and sacrifice. By His example—His life of giving to us—we are able to respond to His truth. Our Father in Heaven demonstrated that great love for us as well, which John 3:16 illustrates. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” How many of us would sacrifice our only child for the good of mankind?

We can preach and preach about God’s laws and pay lip service, but it will be our caring that will help win people’s hearts to God’s way of life. It will be our pouring out of love and concern to others that will electrify and cause them to yearn for God’s truth. Christ knew that, and He demonstrated that by His acts of kindness and supreme sacrifice for us while on this earth.

People need healing, they need nurturing and they need love. If those needs are met, then the preaching of God’s truth can have an impact on their lives. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than my own personal experience. Thirty years ago I was able to understand how caring can make a difference in your life and have an impact on your spiritual life.

I was a stranger and they took me in

Because of the great difficulties and a desperate situation I was living under when I was 19, I made a difficult decision to leave home. Leaving with virtually no money, no job, no home to go to, no food and only one change of clothing, I would have been homeless that day and on the street had it not been for the pastor and a loving family.

Under normal circumstances it is not recommended for anyone to just pull up and leave without counsel and advice from someone. That was the only choice I felt I had at the time. So after leaving, and with one phone call to the pastor, a family came to my rescue.

They picked me up from a bus station and freely took me into their home. I can relate to the verse that says, “I was a stranger and you took Me in.” In Matthew 25:35-36 it says: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me” (New International Version). Christ taught that if you do this for one another, then you are doing it for Him.

This family did not know me nor did I know them until that day we met at the bus station. I was a stranger, desperately needing help, and they took me in, fed me, clothed me, took me to church, helped me find a place to live and collected things that I needed for my new apartment. But most of all they helped me to feel safe for the first time in several years.

This experience has had a lasting effect on me and has caused me to be driven to give back to God and to His people for all that has been given to me. I had to have help and caring before I could even begin to receive God’s truth. It was the caring, not the preaching, that made me ready to receive God’s truth.

I wanted to go God’s way because this family demonstrated what God must be like. I wanted to be like them. It made me want to know who this great God was that they served. My life was forever changed by the example of this caring family who took a stranger in. They taught not by preaching but by their sacrifice of caring as Christ demonstrated to us.

Christ taught by example and caring

People need healing, they need nurturing and they need love.

Christ’s ministry on this earth was not only about teaching, but was also about His example of service. While He was being beaten, the movie would flash back to Christ teaching and instructing the disciples how to care, love, forgive and be good shepherds.

1.

He taught courage by example: He did not waver or give in to His pain from His tormentors, because He kept His mission focused in His mind. His mission was to save us from sin.
2.

Christ taught forgiveness: While being spit on, tortured and beaten, He was still able to offer up prayers to His Father in heaven, asking God to “forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
3.

Christ taught mercy: When a woman was brought to Him who had committed adultery, He intervened and showed her great mercy.
4.

Christ taught what a great servant is: He was willing to give up all status that He had in heaven and become a human. He suffered in the flesh though He could have called on God at any time to stop the suffering. He humbled Himself as a servant, knelt down and washed His disciples’ feet. He taught them to do the same thing. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant...he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (New International Version).
5.

He taught what a good shepherd should be: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

The caring must come first, then the teaching

It is easy to have many words, but what about actions? The family that helped me 30 years ago helped me by example and caring. They gave much, and I will always be grateful to them.

We must follow Christ’s example by reaching out to others.

Christ was a man who gave much, by His profound examples, while He was on this earth. By His great sacrifice for us He is able to have an impact on our lives. We must follow that example by reaching out to others. When possible, we must meet their physical needs first through acts of kindness and caring.

Like Christ, we can help win people over by caring and sacrificing ourselves daily. It is through this sacrifice of caring that people’s hearts will be ready to be taught to live God’s way of life. After all, “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Christ was tortured, beaten, rejected, betrayed, spit on and made fun of for you and me so that we might live. In order to do this, He had great passion of godly love for all of us. Let’s have the same great passion for one another!