Three reasons to love on Patrick

Patrick is the poster child for children’s and student ministries.

For years, Covenant adults have loved on him, and for good reason. Obviously, every kid needs love, but Patrick has needed extra doses. He has faced enormous challenges in his few years of living – a self-evident truth that ministry leaders could easily see. So every time he walked through the church doors these past 10+ years, ministry servants have affirmed his heart, soul and mind. Boy, what a difference it has made! Patrick is headed off to college with Jesus as the defining reason for His existence. I ought to get his autograph now before it’s too late!

But there are lots of Patricks in our ministries to children, students and adults, and Scripture details at least three motivations to be generous with your heart, time and resources:

One motivation is love.
We love others because God first loved us. We are grateful for all that He has done for us (Heb 12:28), and it compels us to make a difference in the lives of others. Our current sermon series, “Love Letter,” is guiding us through 1 John, which unpacks this theme in detail. The grace we have discovered compels us to action.

Another motivation is fear.
We invest our lives and resources in others because of our fear of God as Creator and Judge (Gen 2:17; Deut 28:58-67; Heb 10:30-31). Try this: use an online Bible search engine and call up all Bible references for “fear of the Lord.” Read and meditate on them and watch as the Holy Spirit prompts your heart. To further drive home this reality, strop reading this email and go read Matthew 25. Seriously. Go read it and then come back to this email.

[We'll wait]

Now, imagine your earthly life is over, and you are standing before God the Father. It is now time for His assessment of your life. Ok, I’m motivated now!

Don’t forget the motivation of reward.
You might think it would be selfish to be motivated by reward, but apparently God does not. He has established clear rewards for faithful obedience (Deut 28:2-9; Heb 11:6; Mt 6:19-21). In fact, the problem with most of us–including myself–is that we settle for pathetic, temporal pleasures—possessions and power—rather than the good stuff. We live for the cotton candy rewards of our human existence rather than an eternity in paradise. Down deep I know it’s stupid, but living for today is both tempting and very common.

From start to finish, the Scriptures place these three, powerful motivations before us and invite us to jump into kingdom living with both feet.

If you are motivated now, please call our children’s and student ministries staff today (355-0123) and ask them how you can be a part of a Patrick’s life; we have a bunch of them! It will make a world of difference not only for them, but also for you.

Intentionally following His lead,
Charlie