
I admitted to Jason some time back now that I am a rule-lover. I love rules! You can be the rudest person in the world and I'll get over it; but if you park in a handicapped spot and aren't even remotely handicapped... my teeth grind with steaming anger. Oh, and you can be the biggest jerk in Wal-Mart for all that I care, but if you park your car in the No Parking - Fire Lane just to run in quickly because you can't be bothered to find a space... I seethe with the fires of a thousand burning suns.
Let's take the example to our left here, the friendly walk/don't walk sign found on thousands upon thousands of street corners the world over. Do you obey it? Be honest with me, do you really? You may say, "Yeah, I follow it most of the time. I mean, jay-walking? Nobody tickets for that anymore!" Sure, I get that, but let's look at another example.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them inb the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
We don't follow this sign, because it's not our lives that swing in the balance. If we never reach a single soul, but know Jesus as our Savior, we're still good. We don't care about this sign because we're less concerned about the souls of those who don't know Christ... than our own. It is estimated that sixty million people will die this year, worldwide. Of those, two thirds will die without knowing Christ as their personal savior. Broken down, that's a little over one hundred thousand people each day that die without knowing Christ. Wait, how many? One hundred thousand people every single day will die and spend an eternity in Hell. That sounds scary to us, we don't want to go to Hell... but be honest, of the roughly four thousand, nine-hundred people who will die in the United States tomorrow not knowing Christ, how many of them passed through your lives and you allowed them to walk out of your life without breathing a word about an amazing God to them?
Confession: I do the same thing. I am guilty. And my heart... breaks because of it. I want that passion for people. I yearn for those souls to find Jesus. I beg God to put their souls into my vision daily so that I will have the vision to introduce the idea of a loving Savior, who offers so much, who gave His life for everyone, to those people - my co-workers, the lady in the drive-thru, the gas station attendant - everyone.
My prayer is that we all find that fire again. Sure, we have enough problems within the body of Christ to keep us busy until the rapture, but Jesus doesn't care about those things. He never commanded His disciples to fix church matters, have better programs, include more outreach events, or have more bake sales... He gave us one pro-active command.
baptizing them inb the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Much love to you all,
Beau
Beau is the pastoral assistant and CrossRoads ministry leader at CommUNITY Church.