2025.06.15 | Living Faith That Puts Others First

September 23rd, 2025
by Hope Community

_{^{This blog is based on the sermon from April 6, 2025.}}

What would make someone give away a part of themselves to save a total stranger?

That question’s been on my heart ever since Sunday. We heard a story about a woman who donated a kidney... not to a family member, not to a close friend, but to someone she didn’t even know. It was a costly act of love and obedience. Her quiet “yes” to God wasn’t without fear or pain, but it was full of faith. And the way her church community surrounded her through the process… it made me pause.

It challenged me to ask: How often do I put others first like that? What does it actually look like to reflect Jesus in everyday life?

Then came another story I won’t forget. A young man in India chose to speak openly about Jesus on his university campus. The result? A violent mob attacked him. He was beaten, dragged, and hospitalized... simply for naming Jesus. And yet, he still wants to follow God’s call. He’s afraid… but not backing down.

Both stories stirred something in me.

One showed quiet sacrifice. The other, public courage. But they both pointed to the same thing: a deep, real, costly commitment to Jesus. A faith that puts others first.

Philippians 2 gives us two more examples: Timothy and Epaphroditus. Timothy lived with radical devotion to Jesus and cared deeply for others. Epaphroditus nearly died while serving, and even then, he wasn’t thinking about himself. That’s the mind of Christ.

These stories and scriptures left me asking hard questions:

Am I living with that kind of faith?

Is comfort keeping me from obedience?

Can my kids look at my life and say, “Yeah… my parent follows Jesus”?

Whether it’s quiet surrender or bold obedience, true discipleship means putting others first, even when it’s hard. Even when it costs something.

These stories stayed with me long after Sunday. They reminded me that real faith isn’t always loud or noticed, but it’s always willing. Willing to say yes. Willing to love. Willing to follow Jesus, no matter the cost.

I don’t want to forget that.

Lord, give me a heart like Yours... willing to love, to risk, to serve.

Help me choose faith over comfort, and obedience over ease.

Make me a reflection of Your grace in someone else’s life this week. Amen.