“I used to be afraid that if I was authentic I might take a hit.
but now I know that being real means I will take a hit” -Bob Goff
For the last few months I’ve been slowly making my way through Bob Goff’s book, Love Does. The book is riddled with inspiring stories and examples of God’s love. If you haven’t read it, you should.
This quote hit me hard and here is why:
March 31, 2018
On the day before Resurrection Sunday, my friends and I set out into the city of Belgrade, Serbia with no where to go and nothing to do. We just sought to be led by the Holy Spirit. So, naturally we sat on a park bench and prayed for the Lord to guide our feet and our hearts to where He wanted us to go and what He desired for us to do.
None of us received any clear signs other than to walk to the city center.
As we walked, aside from laying hands on an Orthodox church, we hadn’t felt much of a pull toward any specific place so we went to get gelato.
As we sat people watching in the square eating, we began to write scripture and words from the Lord to give to the passerbys. We picked a color and a verse that we wrote on pink heart shaped post-its.
We picked colors (I chose orange, my favorite color) and a verse (I chose my favorite verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9) along with a few things that the Lord was putting on our hearts. When we finished our thoughts, we sat and waited for someone wearing the color we chose. That is who would receive our notes!
Unfortunately, orange doesn’t seem like a popular color in the spring in Eastern Europe so I struggled at first. After 10 minutes of searching, I saw a woman wearing an orange blouse walking toward us. In this moment, I felt weighed down by my intense fear of man.
Does she speak english? Would she understand me? Would she reject me? Am I going to scare her?
I was operating out of fear.
It took a few seconds and a mental pep talk but I answered the Holy Spirit’s prompting. I walked up to her and said “Excuse me, Miss? I have a note and I believe that it is for you.” She looked at me quizzically and I gave her a nod of approval. She said no and walked away from me.
I was immediately shut down and discouraged.
I stepped out in faith. It took a lot of courage. I was trying to share my heart and she rejected me.
But, that’s what I signed up for. We are all chasing authenticity but are never willing to take the risk. We are in the business of saving souls and sharing God’s love but truth is, it’s not a matter of if you will be rejected it is a matter of when.
God sacrificed His only son for our sake. We spat on Jesus and He continued to carry His cross. We rejected Him yet He still chose us. We beat Him and He still died to show His ultimate care and love.
So, “Is the life you are living worth the price He paid for it?”
