Come and See

At Church yesterday the message was from John, when the Disciple Andrew and another disciple see Jesus for the first time after he is baptized.  They ask Jesus where he is staying and he says, "Come and you will see."  Little did they know he was calling them not just to see where he was staying that night but where he stood in life, his beliefs, how he saw the world. (John 1:39)

Come and See.....isn't that what we as a Church are supposed to say to those around us that don't know Christ.  Come and see how good God is, how merciful God is, how full of joy you'll be, how patient and gracious and loving He is.  Come and see, I'll show you through my life.  You'll see through the way I live how much God loves you. 

Will they?  Do our lives reflect the undeniable love of Christ to those around us?

In the past five months I've been exposed to what seems like an increased amount of death and sadness on both a personal and global level.  Fathers died.  Moms got sick.  Babies died.  Children died.  Teenagers went missing.  Homes were destroyed.  People were robbed.  Useless violence persisted.  The darkness goes on and on.  The darkness will continue to go on until the light shines brighter.  I've said this before but I'll repeat it - more for myself than anyone else:  The darkness remains and spreads because the light does not shine.  For me, this is the easiest, clearest, simplest reminder of our job as Christ followers - to shine His light.

Just sitting in church yesterday I grew frustrated.  All around  me were people who claim to follow Christ, claim to love Him, claim to have surrendered their lives to His plan for them  - myself included.  All across the nation were thousands of other people just like us.  Sitting in warm churches, our tummies filled from coffee and donuts, our voices warm from singing, and our hearts full of Christ's love (hopefully).  But then...does it stop when we exit the church doors?  I have to think for some of us it must (including myself here again).  If it didn't then I don't see how it's possible that darkness could remain let alone continue to spread. 

My prayer this new year is that ALL those who claim to know Christ will step up to the plate and love like Christ.  And if we're not willing to do that I pray that we won't profess false claims....for that, perhaps, could do more damage than  darkness itself.  The Christian who claims to love but clearly isn't loving is a dangerous weapon indeed. 

May we all pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the boldness of Christ to share God's undeniable love with those all around us.  So that then people, who need God more than anything else in their life, may truly 'come and see.  Amen.