THIS WAS MEANT TO BE POSTED ON GOOD FRIDAY 🙂
Alright my friends, it’s Good Friday in Laos, and it strikes me as odd that I am in one of the most closed countries to the gospel to celebrate the death of my Savior who came to die for ALL, and yet I cannot talk about Him in public. In a place where I can’t even speak His name, I celebrate His death and resurrection that gave me freedom.
Every day that I’m in Laos, the reality that people will die not knowing the Good News about Jesus crosses my mind, and it hasn’t hit me until today the weight that really holds. Hardly anyone I will pass on the streets today will even know what this weekend signifies, or that there is a God who loves them, who died so that they could have life. Whoa. For me, that’s hard.
It’s the same story for a lot of countries around the World, not just Laos. I guess I just never fully realized it until I was pulled away from America, a country who shamelessly commercializes this beautiful weekend, and no one around me is talking about their Easter plans
Yet, here I sit in full awareness of the truth of what Jesus did so that I could have life and life to the full. How many people will I pass, not only on this Race, but in my lifetime who don’t know the Truth?
People! (Especially Americans)
Following Jesus is MORE than just a Sunday Morning or Wednesday night, it’s more than your total church attendance, it’s more than facebook followers knowing that you are a Presbyterian, it’s more than that one mission trip you did in high school, it’s more than the scripture you post on your instagram, it’s more than having a “Christian” boyfriend or girlfriend, it’s more than your W.W.J.D bracelet, or you treating people with kindness, it’s more than you having the knowledge that there is a God.
Especially on this amazing weekend, I beg you to ask yourself: Do I know and FOLLOW and LOVE the very Creator of this universe who came down to Earth over 2,000 years ago, who died on some wooden posts a humiliating death, who bore ALL OF MY SIN and SHAME, so that I could have life? Does my life walk the walk of the scriptures, and do my desires fall in line with God’s desires? Am I unashamed of the Good News of Jesus Christ, or am I just a fan? Do I truly crave my Creator or do I believe Jesus is just my “Get To Heaven FREE” card? And do I deeply desire to tell others about Him?
I love you, but it’s time to face the facts.
A couple of days ago I got to participate in the Laos New Year which is basically one of the biggest water fights you could ever imagine being apart of. For three days straight people literally drive around in their cars, and post up on the sides of the street to throw water on each other. It was SO incredibly fun, outrageous, and downright hilarious. Unfortunately, as every holiday goes, there is an obscene amount of alcohol consumption, and a lot of deaths occur this time of year because of it.
Being a part of this crazy, fun holiday opened my eyes again to the actuality of what we do to feel joy, excitement, and to feel “alive.” It again solidified the things we spend so much money and time on to create a moment of satisfaction and temporary high. How is it that the very things we do to feel “alive” can kill us? Isn’t it ironic?
Hear me, I’m not telling you what you SHOULD and SHOULDN’T do in this life, this isn’t your moral talk, but, I’m telling you, Jesus died for all that you thought could bring you happiness and joy, and He died once and for all so that YOU could have freedom FROM death. He died so that you could see HE is the best thing you could ever take part in and the sweetest, most satisfying part of life. To know and experience Him is better than life itself.
Being a Christian is not cool, not hip, not happenin’, and most definitely will not increase your popularity. But it IS the most incredible gift one can ever receive. Even on my hardest day, to me, it’s STILL better following Jesus. Knowing that the God of universe loves me is better than the greatest experience of love on Earth. Even on the days when I don’t understand God, how He works or why He does what He does, to me, it is STILL better following Jesus. And to know that all I have ever done and ever will do wrong in this life is FORGIVEN because He died for me blows my mind.
I’m not asking you to become a Christian if you’re not one, all I’m asking is that you consider all the words I have written here. Consider what this day means, Good Friday, and why people believe in Jesus, and commit their whole lives to Him.
Consider submitting to the One who submitted EVERYTHING for you.
