Restore
us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
-- Psalm 80:3
Long before FedEx, email and Facebook, there was Special Delivery.
Between 1885 and 1997, the U.S. Postal Service
offered this premium option,
which involved a letter's delivery from the local post office branch directly
to the recipient--rather than through the mail carrier's normal route. And
Special Delivery postage was costly. That's because it called for a dedicated courier--sometimes on bicycle--to hand-deliver the letter
to ensure that its important message reached the addressee.
offered this premium option,
which involved a letter's delivery from the local post office branch directly
to the recipient--rather than through the mail carrier's normal route. And
Special Delivery postage was costly. That's because it called for a dedicated courier--sometimes on bicycle--to hand-deliver the letter
to ensure that its important message reached the addressee.
What was so special about Special Delivery?
Today we live in an age of instant messaging and Twitter. We can
take a smartphone from our pocket and Skype almost anyone in the world at any
time. But back in the day before jet airplanes and the Internet erased the
miles between New York and California, Special Delivery was the way to quickly
spread the word about the big stuff: that
special life-altering news about marriage, birth, death or even a job offer.
As Christ-followers known collectively as The Church, we also have
an important message that requires special delivery. Ours is the Gospel, which translated
from Greek means good news.
And what is this good news that distinguishes us from everyone else on Earth?
It's that God's own son--Jesus--has paid the high price for all of our
failures and shortcomings by dying on a cross in our place. The result is that everyone who accepts Jesus' free gift of salvation becomes a
new creation ("born again") in God's eyes. Our faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior wipes the
slate clean, enables us to live our lives anew and have an eternal future with
our Creator.
Now that IS Good News! And Christ-followers are called
to be its Special Delivery couriers. But
how can we do that?
The most obvious way is to deliver the message through our worship
services and personal interactions with non-believers. But we're also to spread
the word by being Jesus' hands and feet on earth while we wait for his return,
or that day when he calls us back home (whichever comes first). Either way, God
wants us to help prepare his kingdom by making the most of the gifts and
talents that he's given us. We're to serve others by following Christ's example:
"Make your light shine," Jesus explains, "so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven."
It's not about us. It's instead about Jesus and the promise of new life through him. So let's turn our faith into action and deliver this Good News by shining a light upon a dark world that's so much in need of his guidance, truth and love.
"Make your light shine," Jesus explains, "so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven."
It's not about us. It's instead about Jesus and the promise of new life through him. So let's turn our faith into action and deliver this Good News by shining a light upon a dark world that's so much in need of his guidance, truth and love.
No comments:
Post a Comment