What is to be the net effect of all my influence in the lives of others? Why on earth am I here? Isn’t it to help others respond positively to God’s 24/7 work in their lives?
How do I do that?
By loving them. Which is to say, by helping them grow in an awareness of how precious they are to God.
What do they need to know?
(1) That he created them for his personal enjoyment of their one-of-a-kind friendship
(2) That he wants them to cowork with him in reaching others with the same message of how valuable they are to him so that those others too respond positively to his work in their lives.
How do we help them?
(1) by praying for them,
(2) by how we think of them
(3) by listening to God for what he would have us say or do that will bless or affirm them.
To sin against God or others is to depreciate their value to God
(1) by not praying for them,
(2) by not thinking of them in a manner that safeguards their value to him
(3) by not listening to God for how to best encourage, comfort, warn, strengthen, and instruct them.
