For several summers, a group of friends and I spent a week to ten days hiking in the beautiful and majestic mountains of Colorado. The trip to our initial layover in Cripple Creek was usually an overnight drive. Throughout the entire trip, at least one person would stay-up with the one driving.
Early one morning, accompanying the driver, I began glancing through the sideview mirror. Eventually, the black of night began to lighten to gray, then to shades of blue, then reds, then orange, and finally the sphere of the yellow sun.
As we travelled through Kansas that morning, I began to reflect on what I had just witnessed in that spectacular sunrise. That morning I realized this; that the influence of the sun preceded the star itself.
God used the sunrise that morning to teach me a valuable truth about the mission of the church. Before Jesus' name is even proclaimed in an outreach or evangelistic effort; before His name is ever mentioned to a neighbor, co-worker, or relative, the observed lives of His followers proclaim the influence that He has on one's life.
Lee, I have been thinking about this post for days now. Very, very deep!
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts fixed on the phrase "Jesus' name". If I understand right, the ancient Jews took "name" to mean "character"; in other words, your name was not only what people called you but also who you are / what you do. If this is true, I think the lesson you are passing on carries so much more weight because our actions "in Jesus' name [character]" not only define us as his followers, but they define him to others who don't know him.
It also makes the third commandment much, much bigger than I thought it was before.
I hope this made sense!
Shane, your observation and point make perfect kingdom sense. It is sobering to realize that we are the definition of Jesus to those who do not know Him. Thank you so much for sharing that with all of us.
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