Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Driving into work last week the following revelation was brought to my mind. The word Christmas is a compound word derived from the words Christ and mas. Christ is God's only Son sent to save us from our sins for without him there is no way for us to ever be saved. Mas as a Spanish word means more. Thus Christmas written as a math equation would be represented this way:
Christmas = Christ + mas = Christ more
John the Baptist echoed this sentiment of needing more Christ in our lives in John 3:30 (NIV) which states, "He must become greater, and I must become less."
This principle of more Christ in our lives is constantly being challenged by everything around us, and the ever-growing hypersensitivity is on full display during Christmas. Many have simply removed the word Christ from Christmas altogether, and instead, they choose to refer to it as X-Mas or the holiday season. The attack does not end there. Countless school systems cannot even have any religious Christmas decorations displayed whatsoever at the risk of offending the few, yet they are able to put up a Christmas tree and promote commercialism. Our society has grown so concerned about not offending others that we do not fight for what we believe in.
How do we counter the prevailing message of this world? Do we beat people over the message of Christ by being in their face about it all the time? No, being in people's faces and beating them up with His message will not effectively reach others for Him. Nor will handing out evangelism tracks that have the plan of salvation include in them but no personal touch. As Christians we were called by Christ in Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8 to reach those around us and across the world with the message of Christ. In my quest to study effective marketing approaches, I ran across a simple approach to get more people to talk to you by wearing a simple button. Many people may come up to you and ask about the button and why you are wearing it, thus providing someone with the opportunity to share personally the saving message of Christ. Let's use this approach to tell as many people about Jesus Christ.
My pastor always say, "Saved people serve people," but I want to add to that, "Saved people reach people for Christ." The band Casting Crowns has a song about being the hands and feet of Jesus, and if we are going to be His hands and feet we need to get moving and start working. Jesus in Matthew 9:37 (NIV) said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." There is a lot of work to be done to reach others for Christ. It is about time we storm the gates of hell and say enough is enough and fight with all our might for Christ.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike
Driving into work last week the following revelation was brought to my mind. The word Christmas is a compound word derived from the words Christ and mas. Christ is God's only Son sent to save us from our sins for without him there is no way for us to ever be saved. Mas as a Spanish word means more. Thus Christmas written as a math equation would be represented this way:
Christmas = Christ + mas = Christ more
John the Baptist echoed this sentiment of needing more Christ in our lives in John 3:30 (NIV) which states, "He must become greater, and I must become less."
This principle of more Christ in our lives is constantly being challenged by everything around us, and the ever-growing hypersensitivity is on full display during Christmas. Many have simply removed the word Christ from Christmas altogether, and instead, they choose to refer to it as X-Mas or the holiday season. The attack does not end there. Countless school systems cannot even have any religious Christmas decorations displayed whatsoever at the risk of offending the few, yet they are able to put up a Christmas tree and promote commercialism. Our society has grown so concerned about not offending others that we do not fight for what we believe in.
How do we counter the prevailing message of this world? Do we beat people over the message of Christ by being in their face about it all the time? No, being in people's faces and beating them up with His message will not effectively reach others for Him. Nor will handing out evangelism tracks that have the plan of salvation include in them but no personal touch. As Christians we were called by Christ in Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8 to reach those around us and across the world with the message of Christ. In my quest to study effective marketing approaches, I ran across a simple approach to get more people to talk to you by wearing a simple button. Many people may come up to you and ask about the button and why you are wearing it, thus providing someone with the opportunity to share personally the saving message of Christ. Let's use this approach to tell as many people about Jesus Christ.
My pastor always say, "Saved people serve people," but I want to add to that, "Saved people reach people for Christ." The band Casting Crowns has a song about being the hands and feet of Jesus, and if we are going to be His hands and feet we need to get moving and start working. Jesus in Matthew 9:37 (NIV) said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." There is a lot of work to be done to reach others for Christ. It is about time we storm the gates of hell and say enough is enough and fight with all our might for Christ.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment