One day, my husband was teaching our girls about God, how He’s a good good Father, yet He is to be reverently feared. He used the imagery they could relate to from their readings in the Chronicles of Narnia, that Aslan is a good lion, but he’s not tame.
“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.” Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he- quite safe? I shall fear rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr Beaver… “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Jesus rode peacefully the donkey as our Saviour as He entered triumphantly in Jerusalem.
BUT, a day is coming when the Lamb of Peace will turn into the Roaring Lion. The Saviour from the cross will take His rightful seat as Judge.
- Am I ready to meet Jesus if my time came unexpectedly?
“Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” Ecclesiastes 12:13b-14
- Are we living each precious minute with His Kingdom in mind, or are we chasing the wind for the sake of our own ‘province’ ?
Reading the next few verses will feel like drinking water from a fire hose. Take it slowly. Enjoy tiny sips that swish around your mouth as if at a wine tasting. Don’t just swallow big gulps without impact.
“…many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:18b-21
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Colossians 3:5-10
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:12-17
- Am I intentional in telling those that don’t have a personal relationship with Christ about what’s coming up? Now we live days of grace, but a day of judgment is ahead. And since tomorrow’s not guaranteed, do we sense the urgency?
“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people…” Hebrews 9:27-28a
Personally, I’ve never met anyone more on fire for sharing the Gospel and more intentional in speaking up about Christ than my father. He’s always had the privilege to travel a lot. But, now after his liver transplant he travels as much as some of those pilots fly a plane. As soon as he hops on one of those taxi rides, plane rides, train rides… you-name-it rides, my dad will crack his way into a very deep, to-the-point conversation about Jesus.
A week ago, our car broke down and he had to take a taxi to the airport. My mom said “Oh, the driver will hear about Jesus today!” And of course he did. I asked my dad, what was his entry line into the conversation for a not super long drive. He said “This is how I started. Sir, today is Monday. Yesterday was Sunday. What did you do yesterday? I personally went to church.” And from then on, he challenged someone who argued to be a very strong Orthodox believer attending the church maybe once a year at Easter, to the point of questioning himself if he truly lived and believed what he claimed to.
Praise God for people like Billy Graham, or my dad to inspire us all to be more intentional. Can you believe that more than 9 out of 10 are eager to be challenged and are open to hearing the truth? If all the believers are hush-hush about their faith, ‘the stones will speak’ of His Name.
But, Jesus gave His life for me, and the fellow man next to me, not for cliffs and pebbles…
Here’s what we can do, especially when we sit next to someone:
PRAY (even if nervously) for an opportunity to share. ‘Cause each time you pray He will answer. And a heart around us will be opened to talk.
START a casual conversation about the obvious. “Do you want a cookie?”, “What book are you reading?” or get inspired from my dad: “Today is Tuesday. Yesterday was Monday. What did you do on Sunday? 🙂 ”
BE INTENTIONAL in mentioning Jesus’ name and talking openly about your faith.
CONNECT before the end of the trip by exchanging facebook names, or phone numbers.
PRAY for them years after your conversation, trusting God a seed is planted even if you may not be the one harvesting.
“Is he- quite safe? I shall fear rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr Beaver… “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” Chronicles of Narnia
We often picture Jesus as good, just, loving and safe. And we don’t want to acknowledge that He is to be FEARED and REVERED.
Let’s DARE ourselves to open up our mouth to tell others that Christ is good, but He’s not safe, if you’re not part of His family.
Read and Meditate: 1 Peter 1:17-23
“Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”