My parents taught me that it is okay — important even — to make friends outside my denomination. Sometimes it’s hard to do, since they go to church on a different day than me and sometimes, they don’t understand our rules. And most of the time, my friends don’t get why Saturday can’t just be a “regular” day for me like it is for them.
But there are many good things that can happen when you make friends with people who don’t believe the same things as you. For instance, when I was younger, I had a friend who went to church on a different day than me. When she would come over to my house on Sabbath, she wanted to play games that I knew I couldn’t play, but we still had a lot of fun anyway. We walked my dog and played on the trampoline with the sprinkler system under it.
She ended up coming to church with me almost every Sabbath that she came over. This happened because I was friends with someone, despite us having different beliefs.
Jesus can use anyone, including you, to be a positive influence on someone today. Sometimes it can be hard to do His work, like it was for Jonah or Moses, but do it anyway. Because only God knows what effect it will have on that person. Who knows how big of an impact even smiling at someone you see or waving at someone could make?
Because God can use anything, I challenge you to let God work through you and change someone’s life for the better. Remember that God can use the simplest things to tell anyone and everyone about Him and all He offers.
Lisette (age 11) is a student at College Park Christian Academy.
