"Count on it- there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue. Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny, searching until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it- that's the kind of party God throws every time one lost soul returns to God." -Luke 15: 7-10
Tonight Trey and I joined his parents for a gospel meeting at their church in Pleasant Grove. It's Monday night... I'm tired... I'm sore from working out... my day was hectic and crazy... and I would have loved nothing more than to sit on my couch and stay put for the rest of the night. But somehow I mustered up the strength to shower and get ready to make it there by 7.
The message came from Luke 15 and I must say it was one of the best I've ever heard. The preacher spoke about our responsibility as Christians to understand the urgency in sharing the message of Christ with those around us. He spoke of the parable of the lost coin, and how the woman searched until she found it. She didn't give up... she didn't stop for a break... she didn't find better things to do with her time. She knew that what she had lost was priceless, and she would not stop until she found what she had been looking for. And then the preacher challenged us by saying this, "The value we place on lost people depends on the intensity in which we search."
I must admit, I've been "searching" as if I had all the time in the world. In fact, if I'm honest with myself I'm not sure that I've been searching at all.
Complacency.
It gets the best of me every time.
Because I'm comfortable in my home and in my pew at church. I mutter in my head as I turn to "greet those around me" and I hate the awkward feeling of inviting someone over for core group knowing that they don't want to come (or is it that I just think that's what they're thinking?).
I've never been in the business of selling. I remember in high school when our cheerleading squad was supposed to sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I HATED making people buy something when I knew good and well they didn't want to. (You know the feeling... how many of you just got hit up for some pop corn or gift wrap?) My mom made me sit down one night in front of her and told me I could not get up until I had called 10 people and sold at least 10 boxes of doughnuts. I cried... I yelled... but I did it. You may be wondering what this has to do with my topic (back to the point...):
Sometimes I feel as though I've been asked to "sell" Jesus to those around me. I justify my actions by thinking that I'm not a good sales person and I find my ministry in other things. In reality, I'm only making up excuses. Jesus doesn't fit into a little box, and He is certainly not something I have to sell. His message is life changing! It's jaw opening! It's astounding!
And yet I choose to keep Him to myself.
I don't get it. I don't understand me. I think it's time that I put some "intensity" into my search.
I realize that I'm surrounded by a ministry at my work. I'm blessed to be a part of a wonderful school and currently we are in the midst of collecting names of families that need a little extra help over the holidays. I'm so excited, because I get to be there when these families come to pick up the gifts that our gracious sponsors have provided. It's going to be so much fun! I was just thinking about how cool it would be if each family somehow happened to find a Bible for each one of the kids in their gift packs. I know it may not be much, but it's a start, right?
"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."
- 1 Corinthians 3:6
If anyone would like to help by providing a Bible for these families, please let me know. Satan may try to take God out of our schools, but God always finds His way back in. : )
Thanks for listening to my thoughts.
