i've always felt a
pull towards the idea of missions, especially foreign missions. i love traveling. i love adventures. i love
the sights, sounds, feels and tastes. i
simply adore the camaraderie of serving
with a team, meeting goals and needs, serving side by side fellow Christians of
every nationality. it's a small piece of
heaven; i want every slice i can get.
for some reason
(okay, let's call it what it is: SIN) it's always been a thousand times easier
to find a stranger in a foreign land and share the Gospel than it is to grab
the elbow of my neighbor and share this mind-blowingly good news.
it's Easter,
friends. this week our extended family
members all over the world are celebrating the climax of Christianity. this is it!
Easter weekend is the single reason we all have hope, love, a future, a
family, forgiveness. the TOMB is EMPTY!
THAT ROCK MOVED, FOLKS!! if ever there was a time to celebrate life, it's now. if ever there was an opportunity to share
Christ that was handed to you on a silver, diamond-studded platter, it's now.
it's also the time
when the whole nation is "sharing" and "liking" posts,
making new hashtags and changing their profile pictures to the flag of
Belgium. social media is exploding with
news about, and prayers for, the victims, their families, their country… OUR
country, every country! the death toll rises, names are being released, and
once again anyone with a trace of spirituality is praying to whatever or
whoever they think might be listening.
instead of celebrating life, thousands are mourning death.
the exciting, and
scary, thing about all of this is that we've gotten our cue. we missed it-again- but we get a second (or
ten thousandth) chance.
every word i read or
hear about missions fills me with both hope and shame. hope at the idea of
giving as much time as God allows to serving Him in a place still waiting. shame, because… i'm surrounded by people HERE
and NOW who don't know, don't care, don't know to care and live day to day
waiting for a "something." and yet i, and so many Christians, live
day to day with our mouths closed.
without the glamour and thrill of a passport stamp, the concept of
bringing up faith, religion or an afterlife is deemed as inappropriate and socially unacceptable.
and yet...
and yet, there's a
world out there crying out for answers and mercy.
for a hope that
lasts longer than a paycheck.
for a life that is
free of pain, guilt, death, gore, sickness, bullets and bombs.
for a ruler that… is
not quite like any current (or past) dictator, king or president.
we have it. we have all of that.
because we have HIM.
HE is it. our Hope that "enters once for all"
into the true temple "not made with human hands" with a better
sacrifice than all the goats and sheep in creation- Himself.
He is our Life- the
source of all Life, and the way to a Life that will never end and that makes
this earthly life as pale and transient as morning fog.
He is the Ruler that
will never be unjust, protects all His own and whose term in office never
ends. no currency except faith. no taxes except joyful praise. no end at all,
except of sin and all its consequences.
this is the song
that never ends; it just goes on and on, my friends! it started just outside an
empty hole in the ground, and will continue for all eternity, growing ever
louder as we all join our voices.
we have it- all of
it.
not only that, but
we also have a direct order from our Ruler to bring as many others into this
Kingdom as possible. He hears these cries, and has told us to show them the
Answer.
the ancient Jews
celebrated the Passover every single year, to serve as a reminder of their
salvation. they were even told how to
share the meaning of their festival, so they would be prepared with an answer
every time someone asked them what on earth they were doing.
as great as that
holiday was… we celebrate the best of all Passovers- the final one, where our
Lamb paid the final price and paved the way to God Himself, open to all who
accept it. we also each have an answer,
a testimony, a true drama, a personal story to share every single time someone
asks us what on earth we are doing.
i promise you this-
you will honk some people off. they will
tell you that are an idiot, and worse.
they will tell you to shut up. they may end friendships, cost you
business, hurt deeply. your story may
mean nothing to whoever you are talking to. Jesus Himself was told off by
the "religious elite." His
answer: if the people won't, the rocks will.
the Good News will not be silenced.
it WILL be told- the only difference is the "how." i haven't done my part. i want to start- before my garden border
stones start singing and put me to ultimate shame.
but i also promise
that there is someone in your immediate vicinity that will hear and
respond. whether or not you ever hear
about it, someone is broken and in desperate need of a Healer. you knowing or taking credit is soooo not the
point. the personal cost is also not the
point. whatever cost to you, Christ's was eternally greater. take a leap of
faith and have your answer ready. there is nobody less worthy of the Gospel
than you; there is nobody more worthy of the Gospel than any ISIS leader. everyone needs to hear. and if we don't
share, the rocks themselves will instead.
please don't give them our job. it's our time to rise up together and
share Easter joy!
if you remember the
point in your life when the message finally sunk in, let that give you the strength to be that joy
to someone else.
let this Easter be a
vivid reminder of what is at stake. let
His hope fill you with both joy and courage.
make this the best Easter of your life, and the first true Easter for
someone else. silence those rocks-ready,
set, go!
