Ok……..so…….the coolest part of my first day in paradise will be meeting Jesus. There will probably be a sudden flash of insight. I will suddenly understand all of the things that went on in this world that never made any sense to me.
But, my great hope is that the second coolest part of my first day in paradise will be when somebody whom I don’t recognize, somebody whom I have never met walks up to me, gives me a smile and a hug and says: “I want to thank you……….I’m here because of you”.
It would be so cool……….if someone is in paradise because of something that I said, or did, or wrote…….or perhaps because of something that I didn’t say, or didn’t do, or didn’t write.
This is my dream.
When I was a boy, I was in the Boy Scouts. It is a fabulous organization. To a large degree, it shaped my character. If you have a son, you couldn’t do much better than to get him into scouting. My membership included a subscription to the magazine “Boy’s Life”. Each month I read it cover to cover. Every issue had a story of a scout who did something heroic……..it usually involved saving someone’s life. It was my favorite part of the magazine. I have always……..even to this day……..dreamed that I would be that guy……..the guy who steps up, puts it on the line, and saves a stranger’s life.
This dream has driven most of the big decisions of my life.I think that this dream is the driving force behind this blog. If this blog changes someone’s mind about Christianity……….it saves a life……..an eternal life. How cool is that?
I recently attended a breakfast meeting at my church. The topic was discipleship. I had never given discipleship much thought. But, if you study Jesus and his life. His ministry was almost purely about discipleship. Teach 12 guys……and they will teach 12 guys and so on………until you change the world.
I think that the main goal of the church…….and the main goal of the individual Christian……. must be discipleship. Many churches today miss this point. They focus on “self actualization”…….on strengthening the individual member of the flock…….or worse……on entertaining them. But, improving the individual Christian, while a good thing, is really only a means to an end. The church improves you as a Christian so that you can go out and improve someone else…….and so on……..until you change the world.
I don’t want to oversell this; but……..It is your job……..and mine…….to change the world.
I’m not naive. This is really hard to do. You will not improve a stranger by annoying them, by attacking them, by criticising them. You will turn their head…..bend their path by using the most devastating weapon in the Christian arsenal………….you will turn them with love.
So……..the challenge this week…….is to have a hard look at your walk in life as a Christian. You are, no doubt, trying to be a good person, as well you should. But, are you doing anything to draw your neighbor to Jesus…….to strengthen him or her? Even better……are you doing something to bend the path of one committed secular humanist in your world.
Are you setting yourself up……….for the second coolest part of your first day in paradise?
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus, sending out the apostles, ESV
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.
Jesus, sending out the apostles, ESV
‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
’Jesus, a parable about successfully serving your master, ESV