because there is the way... and then there are alternatives...
It was 9:00PM on Sunday night and I was driving to the grocery store. I don't mind going to the store when I have all the time in the world, but going at the end of the day is certainly not ideal. The beauty, however, of being at the store when the stars come out is that hardly anyone else is there. You have the whole thing to yourself. I made my way to the cash register for what I hoped would be a quick checkout. The young cashier began ringing up my groceries and asked if I was a part of the reward program. I told her I wasn't, and she informed me that I could sign up online or though the store's app. She went on and on about how great the app was and told me all about the app's features. She then said, "But I don't use the app because I don't shop here. The only thing I buy here is the meat." I was a little taken back by her straight forward confession. She pointed my attention to a display of large water bottles and said, "Do you see those water bottles over there? They cost $1.39 but if you go to _______ you can by the same thing for $0.50. That's where I usually shop because it's not as expensive." Well, you know I certainly love a good bargain, and I totally got where she was coming from, but I certainly didn't expect her to encourage me to shop at her employer's competitor for a whole $0.89 difference.
I hosted a series of trainings earlier in the year on a new banking product. Many of my co-workers confessed of the same situation as the store cashier above and said, "We don't use this product." I tried to stress the importance of using the product as it's really hard to encourage someone else to do something you're not doing. And I thought about how many times we do this in our faith walk. We don't quite practice what we preach. We know the bible, we know what God's word says, but we make excuses. We cherry pick the parts we like, and then we discount the rest as "history." That was BC, "The Law," so that doesn't matter anymore because Jesus came and there's grace. We flash that grace card as if it's our Get Out of Jail Free card, all the while forgetting that Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. It didn't become null and void the moment Jesus stepped on the scene, it became magnified. The law said don't commit adultery. Jesus said not to even look at someone and think a lustful thought or we've committed adultery. The law said don't murder. Jesus said don't even be angry with your brother or sister. He took it one giant step further and grace had to step in for our great shortcomings. And yet we tell others one thing while we do another. We say, "Do this... do that... do what God's word says..." but we don't. We don't set the example. We don't walk the walk. We just talk the talk and assume that maybe our actions don't really speak louder than our words.
But God calls us to practice what we preach. And if we are going to preach God's word, that means we practice it. That means that we follow it. That means that we do what it says, not a variation of what it says. That doesn't mean it's up to our interpretation and we'll decide which parts we want to keep and which ones we want to ignore. It means that we throw ourselves in, full fledged, and we live it out no matter the cost. Because the cost is going to be high. Sure, you can look around for a more affordable deal, but cheap grace isn't God's grace. That grace, Jesus-giving grace, came at a high price. But counterfeit gospel, discount, bargain, gospel will cost you something, too. And in the end, only one will lead to eternal life.
And so, church, it's up to us. Are we willing to sell the real deal? The grace that is costly? The grace that requires sacrifice? Or are we going to point people down the wide road? Are we going to give them outs, loop holes, excuses, or alternative paths to take? Are we going to try to help them feel comfortable or are we going to lead them to conviction so they can find true salvation? Are we going to turn them in a different direction because it just seems like a small thing, nothing major? Or are we going to tell them about the life-changing, life-saving, life-altering grace of Jesus? Will we tell them about how he cleansed us from our unrighteousness? How He saved us from destruction? How He turned our lives around and gave us purpose? Are we going to tell them that, sure, following Jesus can be difficult but is absolutely worth it? Are we going to be truthful about our own failures and the fact that he always stands ready to give us second chances and wash away our mistakes?
In the grand scheme of things, $0.89 isn't much. It's certainly not life or death. But souls matter. Every single one of them. And how we lead them, where we lead them, is certainly to life or to death.
"Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:20
I hosted a series of trainings earlier in the year on a new banking product. Many of my co-workers confessed of the same situation as the store cashier above and said, "We don't use this product." I tried to stress the importance of using the product as it's really hard to encourage someone else to do something you're not doing. And I thought about how many times we do this in our faith walk. We don't quite practice what we preach. We know the bible, we know what God's word says, but we make excuses. We cherry pick the parts we like, and then we discount the rest as "history." That was BC, "The Law," so that doesn't matter anymore because Jesus came and there's grace. We flash that grace card as if it's our Get Out of Jail Free card, all the while forgetting that Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. It didn't become null and void the moment Jesus stepped on the scene, it became magnified. The law said don't commit adultery. Jesus said not to even look at someone and think a lustful thought or we've committed adultery. The law said don't murder. Jesus said don't even be angry with your brother or sister. He took it one giant step further and grace had to step in for our great shortcomings. And yet we tell others one thing while we do another. We say, "Do this... do that... do what God's word says..." but we don't. We don't set the example. We don't walk the walk. We just talk the talk and assume that maybe our actions don't really speak louder than our words.
But God calls us to practice what we preach. And if we are going to preach God's word, that means we practice it. That means that we follow it. That means that we do what it says, not a variation of what it says. That doesn't mean it's up to our interpretation and we'll decide which parts we want to keep and which ones we want to ignore. It means that we throw ourselves in, full fledged, and we live it out no matter the cost. Because the cost is going to be high. Sure, you can look around for a more affordable deal, but cheap grace isn't God's grace. That grace, Jesus-giving grace, came at a high price. But counterfeit gospel, discount, bargain, gospel will cost you something, too. And in the end, only one will lead to eternal life.
And so, church, it's up to us. Are we willing to sell the real deal? The grace that is costly? The grace that requires sacrifice? Or are we going to point people down the wide road? Are we going to give them outs, loop holes, excuses, or alternative paths to take? Are we going to try to help them feel comfortable or are we going to lead them to conviction so they can find true salvation? Are we going to turn them in a different direction because it just seems like a small thing, nothing major? Or are we going to tell them about the life-changing, life-saving, life-altering grace of Jesus? Will we tell them about how he cleansed us from our unrighteousness? How He saved us from destruction? How He turned our lives around and gave us purpose? Are we going to tell them that, sure, following Jesus can be difficult but is absolutely worth it? Are we going to be truthful about our own failures and the fact that he always stands ready to give us second chances and wash away our mistakes?
In the grand scheme of things, $0.89 isn't much. It's certainly not life or death. But souls matter. Every single one of them. And how we lead them, where we lead them, is certainly to life or to death.
"Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:20
Comments
Post a Comment