Romans 10:14-17
How can people have faith in the Lord
and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how
can they hear, unless someone tells them? And how can anyone tell them
without being sent by the Lord? The Scriptures say it is a beautiful
sight to see even the feet of someone coming to preach the good news.
Yet not everyone has believed the message. For example, the prophet
Isaiah asked, “Lord, has anyone believed what we said?”
No one can have faith without hearing the message about Christ.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Earlier
this spring, our local Chamber of Commerce held a weekend festival. As
part of this event, the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre
presented a performance of “The Engine That Thought It Could” in our
city park. A friend of mine felt that this would be a fun thing for
Timothy to experience, so she personally sent me a message with all of
the details about the date, time, and what the performance would
entail. My mom and I took Timothy to see the production…and he loved
it.
Sadly, this event was not well publicized. So a lot of
families that would probably have enjoyed this performance did not
attend. Some happened to walk through the park as the play took place
on an outdoor stage, and a few stopped to watch for a few minutes. Many
had bewildered, “what’s-going-on-here?” looks on their faces. It was
really a shame that more people did not realize that this production was
happening. But many of them simply “didn’t get the memo.”
In
her book, Just Give Me Jesus, Anne Graham Lotz maintains that with
today’s technology, there is scarcely a soul on the planet who has not
had at least the opportunity to hear about Jesus. And maybe she
is right. But has the message truly been delivered in a way that
everyone can understand? I’d be willing to bet that almost all of the
people who walked past this children’s play – or didn’t come to the park
at all – have cell phones, Internet connections, televisions, radios
and newspapers. They probably shop locally and pass by bulletin boards
and storefronts where posters announcing other events are hung. Yet
they did not realize that this event was scheduled.
It’s one thing to know who Jesus is…but quite another to truly know who He is!
Many people might have seen a poster or notice that listed the
children’s play “The Engine that Thought It Could” as part of the spring
festival. But because this event was not “talked up” or highlighted
more, a lot of them didn’t really pay attention. They may have thought
it was something else entirely…relatively unimportant or not of
interest…or they may have completely glossed over it and missed it in a
list of scheduled activities.
This is what happens sometimes with
the message of Jesus Christ. We grow complacent. Jesus becomes one
more thing in a list of things that are part of our life…but we don’t
“talk Him up” or highlight our relationship with Him – or His message.
So a lot of people end up sort of knowing about Jesus…but not really
knowing Him. I don’t know if you fall into that category. Perhaps you
are one of those who mention your faith in passing – or assume that
others will determine that you are a Christian by osmosis! Regardless
of where you fit in this scenario, it’s time we all paid more attention
and took a more proactive approach to finding God in our own lives…and
sharing the message of Jesus Christ with others.
Never let it be
said of us that we “didn’t get the memo” about Jesus…or that we failed
to spread the word! No one can have faith without hearing the message
about Christ. Who do you need to tell today?
©2014 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment