Preaching part 2
Preach the gospel at all times! And if you absolutely have to... use words. That's what this Rant series is about. Because I think too many times religious folk want to "Chapter and Verse" people. They want to hit someone over the head with the Bible. Or force Jesus down their throats. None of that works though. If you cram Jesus down someone's throat, they will choke on Him. Period. Scaring people straight might work, in the very short term... but behavior modification is not what we should be striving for. What you do flows from what you believe. And the two hardest things in the world are: 1. Doing something you don't want to do and 2. Not doing something you do want to do. Behavior modification doesn't work because you are trying to force someone to be someone other than who they are. And that's the key: Instead of trying to get people to be someone they're not... we need to be able to let people be who they are. And we need to be able to show them who they are. That's what the gospel is all about. Look at John 15:26, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." Did you catch that? The Holy Spirit--the Spirit of truth--leads and guides us into all truth. By testifying of Jesus. It shows us who WE are by showing us who HE is. Because Jesus is our true identity. He is God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in our flesh. Love in our body. Jesus is the mirror that shows us who we really are. Which, when you consider what He said to Philip, takes on a whole different meaning. "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" If you've seen Jesus, you've seen the Father. You've seen God. You've seen love. And you see Jesus by looking in the mirror. You see LOVE by looking in the mirror. Because it (HE) is in us. Love is not just what God does, love is who God is. Which means love is not just what we do. Love is who we are! Preach the gospel at all times. The good news about Jesus. The ultimate truth of the universe (that says God is love and He loves you, the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His (our) hands). And if you have to, use words. Love is giving. It is more of a show than a tell. "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise" (Isaiah 43:21). We show up and we show out. We show people who God is by loving them. Period. That's as simple as I can make it. If you want someone to see God, love them. Because they will see YOU. They will see the love in you coming out of you. The GOD in you coming out of you. That's what preaching is really all about. And don't get me wrong, I love a good sermon. We need to be able to hear things differently. See things differently. Let someone else's revelation take us higher. That's all good and proper. But I'm talking about on a day to day basis. If you want to change the world, go home and love your family. If you want to preach the gospel, love the people you come into contact with!