Hello my fellow siblings in Christ,
Are you a fool for God? Don't take this the wrong way. The meaning is simple yet we dread every moment of it. Lets cut to the chase. Are we ready to be humble enough to be made a fool for the sake of Christ? Every time we try to make him known, we fear being ignored, brushed off, ridiculed or even laughed at. But you know what, its normal to feel that way.
We have heard many times that to be a follower of Jesus, we should spread his message to the ends of the earth. But do we still need to, in this day and age where most have heard his name so much so that it has turned into a "commercialise" household name that sells?
Let me explain! We have Easter, where Hot Cross Buns, Easter eggs and the Bunny that sells faster than the message of God's salvation for mankind. Not to mention Christmas where everybody else is getting a gift except the birthday boy (baby Jesus). Even the imaginary Jolly-Old-Man with a belly the size of a beach ball gets more credit than Christ.
The message have been spread INDEED! (More like the message have been tinted to suit today's world of materialisation.)
Now, true evangalisation is becoming a sort of "joke" to the non-believers today because they may question the very sanctity of today's Christians and their teachings. That is why I cannot emphasize enough the importance of evangalising not only for the sole purpose of conversion but equally important is to correct their mis-guided view of our saviour if they are in anyway mis-guided.
For example, we can tell them that Christmas actually mean Christ's Mass where believers go to celebrate the birth of Christ and not celebrate the birth of Santa with Christmas trees, decorations and lights beautifully done up leaving the poor alter with the crucifix in the corner wall bare, not to mention substituting songs of praise and worship with songs like "Santa Claus is coming to town".
Preaching the gospel is a beautiful thing for some and for others it may be very scary. Why is it that some are more inclined than others? Is it experience? It is through practice? Or is it through constant praying and invoking the holy spirit to take control? Yes, it is all these combined but without the very ounce of the spirit, all experience and practice is completely futile.
Take the example of the disciples who stayed hidden in the upper room because they were afraid. The room was their only solice but when the holy spirit decended on them like tougues of fire, their fears left them and they finally left the room and started proclaiming God's glory in foreign languages. The people around them were amazed and confuse. "How is it possible that these Galileans are speaking their own native language?'', they pondered.(acts 2:7) Some even made a mockery out of them by saying they were drunk.(acts 2:13)
Always remind yourself for the need of the holy spirit for his gifts are immeasurable and constantly available to those who call for it. However, we will not experience the true gifts of the spirit if we do not empty our self completely.
What is emptying? And how to do it? To empty oneself is figuratively termed as; to clear the mind from all thoughts that do not lead to God. To do it, we have to be completely immerse with the passion of Christ and ask him to free our mind and let the spirit take control. Its that easy, but for others, it may take a long time. It all depends on our relationship with God.
Its never easy to carry his huge cross. But if it takes us to be a fool for Christ to do his will, then a great fool we can be for his sake. Because we know, that just one day, we will be exalted up to the seat of honour from to lowest and most uncomfortable corner of a stool.
Always be proud to be humble, but a proud flash has no gain for God's Kingdom. Only the soul is what God is interested in.
Are we a fool for Christ? Or are we too afraid of rejection because we are by human nature yearning for acceptance and praise rather than compromising our own face-value?
