Thursday, April 15, 2010

Preach the Good news

Mark 16:15-18 (NIV) "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Today I received an email telling me that there is a time and place for God, and the forum that this email was received on was not that time or place. Let me tell you, that ruffled my feathers. It wasn't that someone condemned me. It wasn't that someone told me what I should or shouldn't be doing. The thing that got me was that it was said there is a time and place for God! A time and place for God...my God....the God that created the universe and all things on it...this God? The God that loves like no other? The God that was tortured for me and you? The God that has already won the victory over satan and will one day come and take all His children home with Him? This God? A time and place? The same God that loves me even when I turn my back to Him and welcomes me with loving arms when I have to humbly admit that I was wrong and ask "Please, Daddy forgive me." This God that has already forgiven even before I ask?
God is God all the time in every place. Maybe some see Christianity as a thing that one does on a Sunday, and maybe a Wednesday, while the rest of the week doing whatever we feel we would like to do. After all, our Sunday pew warming covers the sin from the time in between, right? I am here to say that I do not see it this way.
God is not a something, He is someone. Someone so Holy, so Powerful, so Loving, so Beautiful, so Forgiving, so...........the list is endless. He is a gentleman. He doesn't force Himself upon us, He waits patiently until we approach Him wanting to enter into a relationship. A relationship! Not a business deal, not something impersonal...a relationship. Now I don't know about you, but when I am in a relationship it is an all day every day submission. I can't just take the other person out of the equation at whim. I can't just pretend that I am alone. With God, I am never alone!
God said to go out and tell all the nations, all the people, about Him. He didn't say to do so if it was at the right time or if it was in the right place. He didn't say to tell people about Jesus if the opportunity arose. No, He said "go into all the world and preach the good news."
So, that being said...I have only one more thing to add. My God, my Daddy, has NEVER denied me. On my worst days...during my worst times...my Father never once turned His back and said He didn't know me. I will never, never deny my Father. I will never feel shame for the love that I have for Him. I will never not proclaim to the world what He does for me each and every day. Without Him...my life would mean absolutely nothing.
I am so proud to call Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord. I am blessed beyond belief that my Father God calls me His own.