Have you ever watched your favorite football team play a game...on the DVR...after you knew the outcome? I have and there's a different sense of the game. I know we are going to win, but I don't have the plays memorized or anything, so it's like enjoying all the stuff that happens, but without the stress...I think, personally, I'm a better "watching companion" in that type of game, truthfully, because I KNOW we are going to win and it shows in the way I watch it. It got me to thinking about life and Matthew 23.
I was reading in Matthew 23 about the scathing verbal tongue-lashing that Jesus gave the Pharisees, a couple of days before He was crucified, and I happened on this verse.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! (Matthew 23:15 NLT)
Looks like the Pharisees were pretty passionate about missions, too. They were so legalistic and practiced so little of the message they preached to everyone else, that no one could stand them, really. Had a funny thought about how they probably had to go to a foreign country to get someone who'd listen to their mess, because they didn't have to live with them...then it occurred to me...
Sometimes we go on mission trips to other countries and we marvel at the hunger for and receptiveness to the Gospel of Christ. In conjunction, we Christ followers sometimes get frustrated at the American people around us who seem so cold to the message of Christ. Makes me wonder...if those people across the sea lived with us, worked with us day in and day out, seeing our less than stellar moments and not just those euphoric moments pursuing "The Mission" on a foreign land...would they be so eager to hear from us?
Maybe the reason people are so ready to listen elsewhere is for that brief time, our message matches our life. We are there for no other reason that to share Christ with them...we've had to raise support and give sacrificially to get it done, we've put our money where our mouths are and gone for broke. We are living in followship of Christ... Is the problem that people don't listen is because they don't really see a difference, because truthfully, we structure our lives like the game is still in question...like our decisions will sink us because God "really" isn't the owner of everything...or God "really" doesn't provide...or God "really" doesn't want all of us, so we'll only be here for Him some of the time and not all. When we "hedge" our bets, we preach a faithless Gospel with no teeth that really won't help anyone...at least, that's how we live it.
The Pharisees picked on minutia, but ignored the great truths and values of God. They couldn't see the forest for the trees... is that us? Do we forget that God reigns, because I've got "x" in the bank and I'll need "y" next week, so God's...I guess..."too...ummm... powerful..maybe...to handle that?" Doesn't make sense...
It's a question for all of us to take in evaluation, not to hate on ourselves or get all defeated and quit, but to renew ourselves to make our lifestyle match our message...to take leaps of faith that are genuinely commensurate with what God really can do...and to live as though we really knew we were going to win the game of life, no matter what...
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