Not Mine Alone

We've heard small children claim their toys as exclusively "mine," and the teaching-to-share begins. My Nanny taught me a chorus that began like this: "mine, mine, mine mine - Jesus is mine." How blessed one August night in 1962, Jesus did become personally mine; mine, but not exclusively mine. Scripture tells us God is patient and He longs for none to "perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9). Interestingly, too often we faithfully live our lives as if Christ belongs exclusively to us: why else do we refuse to share The Gospel message? Here on [what we call] The Chandler Compound, we share many things - a lawn mower, a tractor, tools ... sometimes, even germs.We do this because there is a deep abiding love for each other; this is just a simple illustration of how much God loves us and wants us to share His message of love, mercy and forgiveness with others. We rightly sing, "blessed assurance, Jesus is mine," with heart-felt gratitude but may I (we) never forget He loves all people and He has commanded me (you) to share that which is ... not mine alone.