Preaching part 4
Preaching the gospel is something anybody can do. No matter where they are. No matter who--if anyone--is around. Because preaching the gospel is simply loving your environment. The people, places, and things you interact with. I remember reading a story once about this girl--it was supposed to be a motivational story to get high school kids to want to go to college, if I remember correctly--and the thing they really hammered home was that this girl, on top of her studies, and extracurricular activies... picked up some litter and threw it in the garbage can. Like... that's what they were blown away by. And at the time it didn't seem like a huge deal to me. It seemed like picking up litter wasn't really the best way to spark someone's interest in college. But, I gotta admit, that story stuck with me. Especially when I see how often that sort of stuff DOESN'T happen. We really seem to have this idea of, "Not my problem. Someone else will do it." When, in fact, it IS our problem. There's a line in a Marvel movie that I really like where one character asks the other, "Why do you care about saving the world?" (I'm paraphrasing.) And the answer was, "Because I'm one of the idiots who lives on it!" Like... not only are we all in this together... but this is what we've got. I know there are some people out there waiting for the sweet by and by. I know there are people who are just hanging on until Jesus comes--and if you know me at all you know that I'm not interested in pushing my beliefs on people. Believe what you want to believe. I'm not gonna fight you about it. But I always come back to Revelation 5:10, "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." What we have is here and now. Whatever happens after we die... will happen. What happens when we're here... we can put some influence over. We are equipped and empowered to rule and reign ON THIS EARTH. So we need to take care of the things in our path. If there's garbage in our path, maybe we just pick it up. Leave the environment we find ourselves in better than we found it. Little things. Like returning your shopping cart to the cart corral. As many times as I've worked at grocery stores, that one really gets me. But my point for today it--preaching the gospel in all the world to every creature DOESN'T mean hammering people with Bible verses. It means spreading love everywhere you go, to everything you encounter. That's how you reign on this earth as a king and priest. Ruling and reigning in love. Through love. With love. Because of love. Guys... it's all about love. That's what the gospel is--the good news that God is love and He loves you. The good news that BECAUSE He loves you, you can love Him back by loving people. You can love Him back by loving animals. You can love Him back by loving the earth. The world. Everything and everybody. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Go wherever you go and spread the love that's inside you. Every day in every way!