Scripture: Romans 8:18-39

At the end of WWII, it didn’t matter to the Germans that America had conquered over the Nazis. What mattered to the Germans, as well as sundry POWs, was that those Americans (and other Allied troops) stayed on afterward and helped to pick up the pieces and rebuild their country. Those soldiers’ reactions determined their reach. Their help and resources brought Germany back from the brink by helping her people, as well as those displaced from their home countries by the Nazi forces.

As Christians, we need to not to only share Christ’s message in the hopes that others will find Him, but we need to also stand by those same people and help them to see Christ as livable in all areas of their lives, even where they least expect Him. We need to encourage and support them, give them a structure for success. We do no one any good by telling them they can “be a conqueror” and then leaving it at that. We need to build them up and give them the resources to stand firm. Our reaction determines our reach. Our determination to help others stand firm will strengthen their lives in God far more than if we just sent them off alone into the world. We need to be more than sharers of the Gospel, more than conquerors. We need to be builders up of people as well.