I DID NOT WRITE THIS: I take no credit for this blog but I think it is well written and so much truth. Imelda Perez a squad mate of mine wrote it but all Glory to Christ the king.
The air up here in the mountains of Swaziland is crisp and thin. I breathe hard just ascending up the narrow dirt road leading back to El Shaddai. (I love following Jesus.)
Climate changes drastically as clouds roll over the peaks of these heights. When the clouds retreat, the heat of the African sun makes me feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. I get toasty brown within 15 minutes.
(I serve an awesome Creator.)
But thank God that sudden rainstorms here light up the sky with blasts of pink and orange bursts of lightening against the dark cloudscape; this gives me cool reprieve from the heat. I love the sound of thunder rumbling from within the summit ring as I look down into the valley to see the river below swell.
(I love beholding God’s glory in nature.)
It’s wet and red and squishy as my sandals sink into the path. The tall, lush green grass gives way as school children run past me. They never stop but just run or prance or saunter by with laughter and fluttering of waving hands.
I wave back.
“Give me sweets! Give me money! Give me sweets! Give me money!” they shout with mouths full of rotting teeth.
Dentistry is a lucrative business in Swaziland, and also rare around these parts.
Diets of sugar and maize products paired up with a lack of oral hygiene are evident in almost every grin and smile.
Then one day, I actually heard a new ploy: “I love you, give me money.”
For anyone who has ever frequented 3rd world countries, this may not be new.
But I wasn’t being propositioned or hearing this from a prostitute.
Of course, I didn’t give money — I didn't have any.
But suddenly it got me thinking: since when did love get so cheap?
It’s funny how one kid’s flippant attempt to beg pierced me so profoundly.
Follow me. Entertain me for a moment, please.
It made me realize how it was the insincerity, the inauthenticity, the absolute absurdness of that remark that was enough to make me stop and think.
I wasn’t offended. How could I be? I can’t be offended by something that is not real.
As a matter of fact, if love was that easy it’d be that much more appealing.
But real love is offensive when presented in full truth.
I’m talking about agape love.
It is so simple. It is so real. It seems too good to be true – and yet it is the only truth.
It’s pretty offensive. It’s the real deal. It’s enough to piss people off when told in its blatant and bold entirety! (Believe me!!!)
The Gospel when preached has the power to save lost souls or the power to get you killed, if you play your cards right.
We cheapen the Gospel by preaching imitation.
We basically look like fools who run by and shout “I love you, give me money.” It’s that absurd. It’s that cheap. It has no power.
You don’t have to be seeker friendly. You don’t have to water it down. You don’t have to promise something to get results. You don’t have to perform or do anything in your own strength. It just won’t do.
Love isn’t cheap. Last time I checked, it cost God His only begotten son nailed to a cross.
[ For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.]
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
To preach anything but the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection is wrong.
It is wrong, absolutely wrong, to have any other agenda for being on mission.
God sends out people to proclaim truth, not to play games. “Out” is whatever territory lies beyond the boundary of your front door and where your feet hit the ground.
Preach The Gospel.
