Get Off The Sidelines
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
-- Mark 8:34-35
What does Jesus look like to you? I’m not talking about physical looks, though that can be an interesting discussion. I’m referring to what you see Him saying and doing in the world we live in now.
Do you see Him feeding the hungry? Comforting the sick? Protecting the children? Defending the poor? Welcoming the sinners? Or do you only see Jesus on His throne, welcoming us all home to a glorious reunion?
The thing is you can’t have one picture of Jesus without the other. His death on the cross paid the price for our sins but it doesn’t excuse us from action when it comes to helping those Jesus holds near to His heart.
How do we do that? Sometimes we’re so busy looking at the big picture -- the mission trips abroad, the homeless shelter in the city, the food drive at church -- that we miss the smaller things that touch the lives of those around us.
People see Jesus when we show them what His love means. We can preach the words day after day but nothing speaks louder than a friendly hello, a kind word, a meal, a visit, a ride to the doctor’s office. That’s where faith turns into action and people see that Jesus is real, alive and active in our lives and theirs.
Pastor Rob spoke the other Sunday about victorious living, which is so critical to living that abundant life we all want. We want to believe that abundance means having more things, more trips, more money in the bank. But abundance comes when we have a purpose for living. That’s when we’re happiest, he said.
It’s when we come to understand that anything we share, we’ll regain. Refusing to reach out, to give, is refusing the power of Jesus in our own lives. We have to deny ourselves, our desires, our possessions, to gain true happiness. Because faith in things won’t last but faith in the actions Jesus inspires will.
When you surrender your life to God, He turns it into something beautiful, Pastor Rob said. And yet we hold back. We wait for someone else to step up, someone else to go first, someone else to make time. And all the while He is calling us to His side.
This morning I’ll be going to different Sunday school classes asking for volunteers to carry meals to a couple that faces unbelievable challenges because of her devastating illness. And I’ll ask for volunteers to pray for one teenager in our church each day. Simple things really. But I have to wonder how many people will make the effort, the commitment, to take action where they are simply because they can.
Jesus didn’t call us to sit on the sidelines. So what are we waiting for? The game is going strong but we need more team members to really light the way.
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