Encouraging others in their faith

Somewhere I've heard a quote that went something like "God loves you so much that He doesn't want you to stay the same" or something close to that. What it was referring to was that God loves us so much that he wants us to change for the better, he wants us to grow closer to him and develop into the masterpieces that he has us planned out to be. That's why God is constantly teaching us lessons and shaping and molding us. He loves us and  he wants us to experience growth and develop a closer walk with him.

Growing is great thing. We ought to want to grow, we ought to want to be shaped into the person that God wants us to be. We ought to be submitting ourselves to Him so that we can be molded by His hands. Our ultimate purpose in life is to be Christ-like and that takes a lifetime of growth, so we should be constantly seeking to become more like Christ. So I love that God loves us so much that he is constantly wanting to help us grow in that purpose. But shouldn't we show that same kind of love to our friends and family and loved ones? We should love them that much that we help them along this journey as well.

I'm not suggesting that we set out to change our friends and family. We can't change people, that's God's job. No, what we should do though, is make sure that we are looking out for our friends, that we encourage them to grow, that we point out to them when they are heading down the wrong path. Let me give you an example:

One of the things that I love the most about my boyfriend is that when I am straying off the path or when I am becoming stagnant and not really growing closer to God, he comes in and calls me out on it. He reminds me that what I am doing is not right or he reminds me that I need to be spending more time with God. He loves me so he looks out for me and wants to be sure that I am on the right path.

I think that when someone close to us is doing something that they shouldn't be doing or aren't on the right path, it's a loving thing to bring that up to them. There are ways to point things out to someone, you just have to be careful, doing it with love and not condemnation. I don't think we are called to condemn people or judge their hearts because that's God's job. But I would feel bad if I knew a brother or sister in Christ was doing something wrong, and I let them continue down that path without saying something to them.

There's ways to go away doing this correctly. Listen to the Holy Spirit's promptings, make sure that you have the right motives, make sure you aren't judging their hearts or condemning them, make sure you're speaking the truth with love, and make sure that you are aware of the sin that's in your own life first.

I wish that more people in my life were looking out for me, and calling me out when I am doing something wrong. To me that speaks volumes of love because it tells me that instead of letting me continue down the wrongful path of sin, you love so much that you want to help me get to the right path, and grow closer to God

James 5:19-20
" ¹⁹ My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, ²⁰ let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." 


Luke 6:41-42
" ⁴¹Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴² How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye."

Ephesians 4:14-16 
"so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,"