After - Day 25

There it is! The admonition to be sent. We say it often here at Crosswalk, we are saved to be sent, not to sit! And that is the message Jesus had for his disciples. The training is over, it is time for you to go and change the world with the message of the gospel, this message of hope and love and to lovewell. The world will only change at the pace we leave our comfort areas and move into the hard work of sharing what love truly is. 

And that is the point of all of this. It is not about being right, it is not all about doctrine or days, but it is about the quality of love that people can experience and feel by being in the presence of God through you. I think that we have perhaps spent a great deal of time trying to bet people to think and look like us, rather than trying to make sure that they are the most well-loved people on the planet. Our job is not to convince, but rather, to love. When we make that the work of our lives, then the gospel is expressed in everything that we do. 

I am constantly surprised at the lack of love that is experienced from those who claim to be followers of Christ. If our job is not first and foremost to love, then what is our job? Is it our job to defend our faith, to somehow protect God from the slings and arrows of those who claim atheism and agnosticism, or even claim to believe but express that belief differently than we do? I am not sure that the creator of the universe is really in need of a lot of protecting. If there is nothing greater, if there is nothing more loving, and if there is nothing more pure than this God, how is it that we are going to make God better, or help someone to not be angry at that same God? 

I have been a pastor for a pretty long time now, and one thing that I have learned is that the greatest apologetic is love. We don’t always convince people of who Jesus is by convincing arguments, but by lives that are lived with a degree of purpose, with a hope and a joy that is infectious. We spend so much time working to get people to think the same way we do, when really, our greatest gift to the world is to show them how to love. 

1. When were you sent by Jesus? 
2. What is the greatest gift you can give to someone? 
3. How can you love someone into the grace of Jesus Christ?