John 3:10-15
Jesus replied: How can you be a
teacher of Israel and not know these things? I tell you for certain
that we know what we are talking about because we have seen it
ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say. If you don’t believe
when I talk to you about things on earth, how can you possibly believe
if I talk to you about things in heaven?
No one has gone up to
heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there. And the Son of
Man must be lifted up, just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses
in the desert. Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have
eternal life.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Several years
ago, my mother gave me a little desktop flip calendar called “365 Days
of Humor for Women.” Today’s entry says…”Tell people that there are 400
billion stars, and they’ll believe you. Tell them a bench has wet
paint, and they’ll have to touch it.” Talk about a perfect fit for
today’s scripture passage!
Too many of us are running around
wringing our hands and bemoaning this or that, when what we ought to be
doing is “picking up the snake” and trusting God to make good on His
promises! We SAY we believe in Jesus…that He is the LORD of our
lives…but we surely do not act like it or demonstrate this to others.
It’s like we went through the turnstile at a concert, but didn’t go on
in for the show! We are stuck! We accepted Jesus…we received
His forgiveness and redemption…but we’ve done nothing since then to
share our newfound faith with others – or even demonstrate that we trust
in an unseen God.
The crazy thing is that we readily accept
everything from the posts we read on social media to the gossip we hear
on the streets to those outlandish promises that if we just sign up for
XYZ, we could win everything from a cruise or free airline tickets to
millions of dollars! But when it comes to Jesus, we need to “touch the
bench” to make sure the paint is really wet!
I do not dare to
judge others, but I do notice a lot of people who are ready to like a
meme about Jesus, or one of those
“If-you-really-love-Jesus-like-this-and-share-it” posts. And right
before or after this, they claim to the world that “My ‘ex’ is a jerk,”
call a politician or someone who differs with them in some manner an
ugly name, or declare that “I’m a Christian, so I am so much better than
someone who believes such-and-such.” This is what Jesus explained to
Nicodemus…either you are “all in” with Him, or you are stuck at the
“turnstile.” Either you trust wholeheartedly that Jesus is ready,
willing, and able to meet all of your needs, or you are touching the
bench to see if the paint is really wet.
We need to pull it
together and get real about our faith. We need to understand that Jesus
did not redeem us so that we could go on about our old ways of living
and continue to doubt, gossip, or mistreat others. In short, we cannot
continue to sin as much as more than we did before we supposedly gave
our hearts to Him. Yes, Jesus’ love is unconditional…but His salvation
comes with a mission! And it is time we got busy fulfilling our
assignments!
Are you ready to believe Jesus for everything…and
act like it? Will you make this the day that you move forward and begin
to truly live as Christ’s disciple? Let others see your faith in
action. Stand up…step out – and boldly declare that you know who Jesus
is - and what He can do for each of us. Are you ready to prove your
confidence in Christ’s power? Are you ready to demonstrate unequivocally
that when He says “the bench has wet paint,” you never have to touch it
to be certain? Isn’t it time you were?
©2016 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment